Famous Last Words
by SacredDreams
Summary: Ever wondered what happened during Lily and James' years at Hogwarts? Along with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Petter Pettigrew, Severus Snape, and others, the Potters are making history--MWPP style. Lovehate
1. Gold Ribbon and Black Spiders

**Famous Last Words**

SacredDreams 

_For My Sisters: Alex, Ginny, and Kaylee _

It was a bright and sunny morning when hell broke loose. 

A blood-curdling scream reverberated throughout the Evans household, inducing terror on the occupants reminiscent of sitting through a seven-hour opera.

This did not make Lily Evans happy.

Grumbling murderously under her breath, she shoved the covers to the end of the bed and stumbled to the staircase. Dishes crashed, shortly followed by more hysterical screams. She had just enough time to take a deep breath as she descended the carpeted staircase. "Petunia, what in the _world_ do you think you're doing?" 

Petunia stopped her screaming to glance at her sister. "Lily!" She nearly sobbed. "Get it away!"

Lily squinted at Petunia in confusion. "Get what away?" She asked, but answered her own question when she rounded the corner and saw the kitchen.

On the opposite end of the room from Petunia, a large owl stood preening on the counter, a few feathers wafting towards the ground. Lily stood for a moment, watching Petunia cower at the very odd disturbance to daily life. 

"Petunia, it's just an owl," Lily said slowly.

"But it's a big, wild, _dirty_ owl."

"C'mere," Lily crooned, shouldering open a window near the owl. "I'm not gonna hurt you." 

The owl gave Lily a look that quite obviously said, "I know that, moron," and fluttered over to her. Lily felt wind brush her bare feet as the owl flapped its wings and soared over the garden and into the crisp morning air. 

"Traumatized?" Lily snickered, regarding her sister's cowering position. The expression of fear on Petunia's face was replaced with one of disgust. 

"From encountering you? Very," Petunia answered. 

Lily stuck her tongue out at Petunia and picked her foot up to walk away. A light object impeded her progress and Lily, surprised, looked down. An envelope lay at her feet. Puzzled, she picked it up. It was made of heavy, yellowish paper and bore swirly writing in emerald green ink.

_Ms. Lily Evans_

_18225 North Main Street_

_Dublin, Ireland, Earth _

_Why would they have specified the planet?_ She asked herself skeptically. _It's most likely one of Petunia's crazy friends having a laugh._ Lily discarded it on her desk on the way to her closet. She had much more important things to do than think about some old joke letter, such as picking out her outfit. 

The letter stayed there forgotten until nightfall.

*    *    *

A dozen roses were presented to Lily, who automatically gasped and held her hand to her mouth.

"Lily," A deep voice intoned. "Would you…"

"Yes?" She asked breathlessly.

The most handsome man on earth, in Lily's opinion, opened his mouth. Whatever Lily had anticipated him to say, this was not it. The most awful buzzing noise emitted from his mouth, making Lily squeeze her eyes shut and clamp her hands over her ears. 

"Stop it!" She cried. "STOP!" 

Lily hit the floor with a loud thump, tangled in a mess of blankets and sheets. _That was quite possibly the strangest dream I've had in my life_, she thought to herself. Climbing back into bed, she froze.

The buzzing noise hadn't gone away.

For the first time, Lily noticed an eerie green light had lit her room. Slowly, she turned her head to view its source.

The letter she had gotten was now floating in between her and the desk it once resided on. Apparently the current, and obviously impossible, scenario was not ridiculous enough, for a gold ribbon shot out of the envelope. The ribbon hung limply in the air for a few breathless seconds before beginning to twine itself into shapes.

OPEN ME NOW! 

It ordered. 

"Okay, okay!" Lily told it. She grabbed the envelope out of midair. Immediately, the buzzing noise and green light ceased, and the ribbon wound itself up and disappeared. Lily stumbled through the darkness to switch on the light overhanging her bed. 

The envelope opened easily in her trembling hands. Carefully drawing out the letter, Lily gave a gasp.

_Dear Ms. Evans,_

_Congratulations! You have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

"This has to be some kind of joke!" Lily said to herself. "I'm sure the ribbon and the light and the noise were just some sort of mirage. Yes; that's it. A mirage."

Twenty minutes later Lily was standing in the dark of her parents' room. 

"Mum," She whispered urgently, "Mum!"

"Yes, dear?" Mrs. Evans whispered groggily, rubbing her eyes.

"Read this!" 

Mrs. Evans was kind enough to turn on her lamp instead of snapping at Lily to go back to bed. She read the letter that was shoved into her hands, looked up and Lily, and fainted. 

*   *   *

"RRAAAA!"

"AAUUGHH!"

A monster jumped out from behind his mother's row of hedges and grabbed onto James Potter's broom. The tilt forced James to tumble in the direction of the monster, clobbering it as they both fell to the ground.

"Oof," The monster groaned in a familiar voice. 

"Sirius?" James asked incredulously.

"I would be if you hadn't squished me," Sirius Black muttered, his voice muffled.

"Well I wouldn't have squished you if your genius plan hadn't involved tilting my broomstick!" James retorted, rolling off of his best friend.

"You weren't falling off!" Sirius explained, making a show of dusting off his clothes. "How else was I supposed to make you?"

"You have a point," James acknowledged.

"See?" Sirius asked loudly. "See? This is entirely your fault!"

"But," Began James, completely disregarding Sirius' last comment," I have a better point. EAT WORMS BLACK!" 

Narrowly missing having his face smashed in the dirt, Sirius turned on James and began an all out, no rules allowed, wrestling match. Rolling through several prize-winning flower beds, James secured Sirius's hands. 

"Ha!" James finally crowed, thoroughly winded. "I win!" He pinned Sirius rather roughly to a small, skinny, apple tree. Much to their surprise, an owl came tumbling out of it and landed at their feet.

They both stared down at it. "Not really in your prime now, are you?" Sirius asked, poking it with his foot as he got up. 

The owl gave an indignant hoot and hopped to its talons, shaking off its wings. As if to prove it was quite capable, it flew up and dropped two letters into James' waiting hands.

"Thank you," James said. The owl nodded in response and gave Sirius a dirty glare. 

"What was that for?" Sirius asked as the owl flapped its wings in effort to fly away.

"Sirius!" James said. "Look! Look!!"

"Look at what? Your big nose?" Sirius chuckled.

"Sirius! I'm trying to be serious!"

"Of course you are. Everybody tries to be me."

James rolled his eyes. "Well, if you don't want to see your Hogwarts acceptance letter…"

"Of course I wouldn't want to see my…WHAT?"

James simply handed the letter to his friend in response.

Sirius' eyes lit up. "James! Just think of all the chaos we could cause there!" 

James grinned. "The letters serve a more immediate purpose," He informed Sirius, tucking his own letter in his robes and handed the other to Sirius. "It will make my Mum stop in her tracks when she finds the fake rat that I put in her—"

"AAH! AHH! AHHHH!"

"-casserole."

Sirius snickered as James fixed an innocent smile on his face. His mother threw open the front door and glared. "Jam-"

"Before you kill me, Mum, I have something to show you," James said solemnly. He approached her and handed her the letter.

 "Oh James," She said, making a move as to give him a great big hug. 

James and Sirius were off and running before she could say another word.

*    *    *

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Mrs. Evans asked anxiously. 

"Yes, Mum!" Lily said impatiently. "It's what the letter said!" She waved the parchment in her hand. In doing so, Lily nearly smacked a man in the crowd. He gave her a dirty look as he pushed her aside. 

"I don't see it. What's it called again? The Full Cauldron?" Mrs. Evans craned her head to look at the buildings cramming the sides of the street. 

"The Leaky Cauldron," Lily corrected. "And it's right there!" Lily pointed excitedly to a small gap in between a book store and a clothes store. 

"Where?"

"_There!"_ Lily dragged her mother across the street.

"Oh…here," Mrs. Evans said. Her eyes glided right over the small, slightly weathered pub. Lily wondered if her mother could really see it. 

A sign swung in the wind above the small, black door. Lily, suddenly nervous, slowly pushed it open. It made a loud creak that made Lily cringe. Once the door had opened all the way, though, she found she needn't have worried about the noise.

Hordes of adults sat at the tables that dotted the room. A bar that should have collapsed because of the weight of glasses stood directly in front of them.

"Welcome," said a deep voice.

The speaker was a young-looking man with brown hair and a smile that nearly blinded Lily, his teeth were so white. "H-hello," She stammered. 

"I'm Tom, the bartender. What'll it be?" 

"She is much too young for drinks," Mrs. Evans interjected firmly. 

"We have some non-alcoholic beverages," Tom said in a placatory manner.  

"That's quite all right. We're here about Diagon Alley," Mrs. Evans told him.

"Hogwarts, eh?" Tom asked, winking at Lily. "Went there myself. You'll want to head out that back door," He pointed to a solid-looking door. 

"Thank you kindly," Mrs. Evans said, pushing Lily in front of her. 

The door lead to a sort of backyard. It was small, with two trash cans in front of a brick wall. 

Mrs. Evans blinked. 

"It says we have to tap a brick," Lily said, reading the letter again. "Well…which brick?" Mrs. Evans asked, sounding as if she didn't believe it. 

"The second brick on the third row up from the brick growing moss," Lily replied. 

Mrs. Evans counted the bricks and put a hesitant hand on the correct one. "To Diagon Alley," She said. 

Nothing happened. 

"To Diagon Alley!" She repeated more loudly.

"Um, mum? I think I might be supposed to do it," Lily said. "After all, I am the witch."

"Right," Mrs. Evans said, sounding funny. "Well, go ahead, then."

Lily put her hand on the chipped brick. "To Diagon Alley!" She said. With a grating noise, the brick disappeared into the wall. 

Lily quickly drew away her hand as bricks began popping in and out of the wall. Grinding against each other, they moved to form a large arch.

Lily and Mrs. Evans stared at the scene before them. A cobblestone street that winded and twisted was crammed with brightly colored shops with just as bright signs. "Flourish and Blotts," A particularly regal sign proclaimed in gold script. Wide windows displayed everything from broomsticks to books to little round things Lily couldn't even name. Whatever space that wasn't filled with shops and street peddlers was filled with a crowd of people dressed in long cloaks or robes of all colors. 

_Whoever says magic isn't real obviously hasn't seen this_, Lily thought. Out loud, she said, "Come on, Mum! Let's go!" 

She pulled her mother out into the crowd. The arch of bricks melted into the wall it had been as soon as they crossed under it. 

Now in the startlingly bright sunlight, Lily examined her list of school supplies. "Well, I need a wand," She announced.

"Well, I suppose so…" Mrs. Evans said, looking down at several large gold coins in her hands and then back up at the kiosk in front of her. "The exchange rate is a little high, though…"

"Where is the wand shop?" Lily asked, impatient.

"Doesn't the letter say?"

"Well…no." 

Lily and Mrs. Evans scanned the streets for any sign of a wand shop, before Lily saw the weathered old sign. "Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C." It read in peeling gold letters. The shop itself looked to be just as old as the sign. The lone wand in the window display only furthered the impression: the wand and the faded purple pillow it rested on were covered in a layer of dust. 

Mrs. Evans assured Lily she would be right outside and handed Lily the money. 

Alone, Lily pushed the door open and squinted in the darkness.

"Afternoon," a voice quietly said from the back of the shop. Lily nearly jumped. 

"Hello," Lily said, her mouth dry. "Is this the wand shop?"

"Of course," The voice answered her. A man came into the lighter area of the shop. He was small and skinny, with abnormally large eyes that seemed to look right into Lily's mind.

Lily swallowed.

"I would like to buy a wand," She said. 

"I imagine you would. Which is your wand arm?" The man asked, coming forward with a tape measure.

Lily blanched.

"Writing arm," The man clarified. 

"Oh, right," Lily answered.

The tape measure sprang to life, running up and down her arm and fingers and even the spaces in between her fingers. 

"Hogwarts, I see. Surprising to get your letter, wasn't it?" The man's words weren't exactly a question. "Yes, most muggle-borns feel the same way. Don't worry; you'll be at the same level all the students are, more or less."

The man rummaged through some boxes, casting some aside and stacking others. 

Lily blinked. How had he known…? 

"Try this. Mahogany, nine inches, stiff."

A wand was shoved into Lily's hand. Feeling silly, she waved it in the air.

"No, no…" 

The wand was whisked away and another was put in its place.

"Maple, unicorn hair, 11 inches, quite thin. No? Well then what about the dragon heartstring wand…I see. Hmm…"

Lily's arm quickly tired from waving up and down. "How many wands does is usually take?" Lily asked.

"Depends on how fast I find the wand that wants the person," the shop owner answered vaguely. "Try this. Willow, 10 and a quarter inches, unicorn hair core. Quite swishy, isn't it?" 

Lily accepted the end. Her fingers immediately tingled. She swished her arm up and down with a renewed sense of energy. Pink and silver sparks shot out of the end of the wand, nearly igniting its box on fire. 

"Very nice," the man said approvingly. "That wand is quite good for Charms work, you know."

The man handed Lily the box and accepted her money. 

"I'm glad the wand found you," He said.

"Pardon?"

"The wand chooses the wizard, or witch, in your case." He looked at Lily with an unreadable expression on his face. "I think we can expect some wonderful things from you with that wand. Yes, a most fulfilling future."

The man opened the shop door. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Lily. Yes, I will remember this visit. Be sure to visit the ice cream parlour on your way out."

"How'd you know my name?" Lily demanded. "I didn't tell you it!"

The man merely smiled and shut the door behind her. 

"Well, do you have your wand now?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"Yes," Lily answered, looking over her shoulder at the empty window of the shop. She had an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

"Good. We should get going to the book store; you have quite a few things to buy there."

Lily forced her mind off the wand shop and onto the task at hand: buying her books. The bookstore, Flourish and Blotts, was near the entrance. It was brightly lit and crammed with books in vibrant colors Lily didn't even have names for. Thinking she could learn about the Wizarding world, Lily picked up every practical looking book in the shop, along with her schoolbooks. It turned out that the galleons spent did Lily no good in thinking like a wizard. 

"But it _says_ 9 ¾!" Lily nearly cried. "It _says_!"

"Maybe there was a mistake," Mrs. Evans said over Lily's head to Mr. Evans. "Do you think-"

Lily saw them out of the corner of her eye first. They were pushing trolleys loaded with antique looking trunks and owls in cages.

"Wizards use owls," Lily whispered to herself.

The two boys were laughing and talking. They turned to wave to a woman over their shoulders, then walked right into the wall between platforms 9 and 10. They disappeared.

"Mum, I think it's right there," Lily said, pointing at the wall.

Her parents stared at her.

"Lily," Mrs. Evans started.

"I wasn't hit in the head! I just saw two wizards walk into the wall," Lily explained, exasperated. "See! Look!" 

The Evans' looked to the stretch of wall between platforms 9 and 10. A girl sprinted toward it. Just before Petunia screamed, she disappeared. 

"Well then, I suppose that's the gate," Mrs. Evans said, still somewhat convinced Lily would run right into it. 

"Bye, Mum! Bye, Dad! Bye, Petunia!" Lily chirped cheerfully, swallowing the lump that suddenly appeared in her throat.

Her parents bid her farewell with many hugs.

Petunia just looked on reproachfully. "Good-bye," She said icily, and turned away.

Lily turned her cart and walked cautiously toward the wall. As it loomed closer and closer, the butterflies in her stomach multiplied. Beginning to think she was going to run into the wall and look like a complete idiot, Lily closed her eyes.

Lily was hit with a blast of cold air, as if she had just stepped into a house with the air conditioning on high. When she opened her eyes again, she was staring at a magnificent scarlet train.

The words "Hogwarts Express," were elaborately scripted on one side. Smoke pumped from the smokestack, making a few of the students cough.

The students! The huge number of children were mainly wearing different colored robes of some sort. They ran about with trolleys filled with owl cages, cat carriers, mice in tiny carriers, trunks, books, and wands. A few students already wearing the black Hogwarts uniform robes and shiny badges were attempting to direct a few of the students. 

Deciding these people were the authority, Lily approached one. "Excuse me-"

"Hullo there," The boy said, grinning down at her. "First year? Thought so," He said when Lily nodded mutely. "First years always look a bit frightened. I'll help you with your trunk now, shall I? Let's move along then!" 

Without even stopping for a breath, the boy picked up Lily's trunk and set off towards the train. Lily followed, struggling through the wildly chattering crowd. 

"Here you go!" The boy slung the trunk into a compartment. 

"Thank you," Lily said politely.

"No problem! It's my duty as a Prefect, you know."

With that, the boy disappeared, leaving Lily to wonder what a prefect was. 

* * * 

"Come on, you," Sirius said to James, trying to act as if his trunk wasn't straining him at all. "We're trying to get on the train sometime today!" 

"My trunk is a lot heavier than yours," James told Sirius. 

"Excuses, excuses!" 

Sirius and James clambered onto the train, making as much noise as two preteen boys possibly could. They opened the door to the nearest compartment. 

"Hello!" Sirius said amiably, setting down his trunk on James' foot and holding out his hand to the boy who was currently sitting in the compartment. "Sirius Black. Don't mind if we sit here, do you?"

"Make yourself at home," The boy with light brown hair pleasantly replied. "Remus Lupin."

"Nice to meet you, Remus," James put in, glaring at Sirius and rubbing his foot. "James Potter."

"Are you all first years?" Remus asked. 

"And determined to make it the best class Hogwarts has ever seen!" Sirius said gleefully. "Or at least the most chaotic."

Remus laughed. "I doubt we'll have much trouble."

"A fellow prankster, are you?" James grinned. "Want to help with an experiment?"

"I'm not exactly a prankster, but-"

"Newcomers are welcome," Sirius assured him. 

"Grab your wand and let's go!" James said, taking his and standing up.

James led the way out into the corridor in between compartments. He took a jar from his pocket and dangled it in front of Sirius and Remus' eyes.

"Whassit?" Sirius asked.

"A spider!" James said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "I was hoping we could blow it to smithereens."

He unscrewed the bottle and set it on the floor. "Didn't want to mess up our compartment, though."

"Do you know the charm?" Sirius asked. 

"I thought we could improvise," James answered. 

"Great," Sirius rolled his eyes. 

"Blowus Uppus!" James said, waving his wand intricately.

The three boys stared intently at the spider. Nothing happened, much to Sirius' amusement.

"Why don't you have a go then?" James grumbled.

"Don't mind if I do!" Sirius answered. He pointed his wand at the jar and muttered some intelligible words.

There was a great flash of light and the leaf in the jar blackened and turned to dust.

"Whoops," Sirius said sheepishly. 

"Your turn, Remus!" James said. "Do you know any _real _spells?"

"I know one charm, but I don't know what it does," Remus said. 

"Try it!"

"Here goes nothing…. Crescorium!"  

All stared at the spider, but nothing seemed to happening. Suddenly, the spider began growing.

"Quick! Get it out before it gets stuck!" James nearly shouted.

Sirius grabbed the jar and shook the spider out onto the floor.

The poor, rapidly expanding, creature scuttled to the other end of the hall and under the door of a compartment.

"Darn," Remus complained. "I wanted to see if it would get any bigger."

"We could try it again on something else," James suggested.

"What should we try it on?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" 

A piercing scream rang through the train. 

The three boys looked shocked. Sirius' shock quickly transformed to hysterical laughter. "There must have been a girl in that compartment!" He laughed. 

James threw open the door to the compartment and hit the boy who was trying to stomp on the spider that was now the size of a shoe square in the nose. 

"Squish it!" The girl squealed. James had to snicker. Her brilliantly red hair was flying around her head as she tried to get as far up and away from the spider as possible. She turned to James and glared. "Did you do that?"

"Nope," Sirius answered for James. "He did!" Sirius pointed at Remus.

Remus smiled angelically.

"Well then for God's sake SQUISH IT!" She shrieked.

"Not to worry!" Sirius assured her. "We'll have it just a second!" 

Sirius turned to the spider. "A little help here, guys?"

For ten chaos-filled minutes, Remus, James, and Sirius ran around trying to squish the spider with anything and everything they could get their hands on. Finally, they picked up a black trunk and dropped it on the creature.

"Whew," Sirius wiped his forehead. "Didn't think we'd ever get that little bugger."

"But anything for a lovely lady such as yourself," James said smoothly, bowing extravagantly.

The girl just glared. 

"With by trunk, I'll have you bnotice," A nasally voice said nastily.

The three boys turned, surprised. 

A boy with greasy hair was standing behind them, glaring ferociously and covering his nose.

 "What happened to _you_?" James asked, noting the blood. 

"You broke your nose?" Sirius said. "Because of a spider?" He disguised laughter as a cough.

If looks could kill, Remus thought he would've been dead on the spot. Rage seemed to explode from the boy's eyes. 

"You idiots," He snarled. "You hit be with da door!" 

"What?" Sirius asked. "I can't understand you…Try speaking out of your mouth!" 

"You hit him with the door when you came in after your…creation!" The girl in the corner spat. "Which was completely disgusting!" 

"Boys will be boys," James shrugged. 

"We'll make it up to you," Sirius promised with a million-dollar smile.

"Get. Out." She glared. "Out! Right now!" 

Brandishing her wand, she herded them towards the doors. 

"Be careful!" Sirius warned her. "I wonder what you'd look like as big as that spider…"

The boys ran off laughing.

"Remus," James said, warmly shaking the boy's hand when they returned to their compartment. "Welcome to the club."

"Thank you," Remus grinned, shaking Sirius' hand as well for good measure.

"We should probably change into our robes," James said. As the boys reached for their trunks containing uniforms, Remus asked, "So, what houses do you want to be in?" 

"Gryffindor," James and Sirius answered in unison.

"My family has never been anything else," James explained. 

"All the Gryffindors I've met have been great," Sirius told Remus. "I want to be one of them!"

"I'm hoping for Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, myself," Remus said. "But I guess any house would do."

While the new friends talked, the train slowly came to a stop in front of what James decided was the biggest place he had ever seen in his life. The turrets pierced the sun as it glittered just over the horizon, bleeding golden sunlight onto the landscape. The windows were bright with flickering candles. Sirius could have sworn he saw a ghost float past a second story window. 

"So this is Hogwarts," Sirius said appreciatively.

"I guess so," Remus smiled. "Bigger than I thought."

They had no time to marvel over the castle. The moment the train came to a stop, the doors slid open. 

"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" A deep voice boomed.

The boys looked at each other and scrambled for their trunks, dragging them outside.

"Leave them here," A haughty voice instructed. A gleaming badge on the chest of the speaker declared her Head Girl. "They'll be taken in for you."

"Firs' years! Firs' years!"

Sirius turned to look at the man who called and his jaw dropped. "He's HUGE!" Sirius whispered.

"He must be part giant!" Remus whispered back. 

"Or someone used your charm on him," James suggested. 

"On teh boat righ here!" The man said.

"Thanks," Remus told him as he climbed aboard.

"Yer welcome. I'm Hagrid," The huge man said. 

Sirius was tempted to ask him how the weather was up there.

"Remus Lupin. Pleased to meet you," Remus shook Hagrid's hand. "This is James Potter and this is Sirius Black." Remus introduced the others when their lack of speech became awkward.

"Nice teh meet you," Hagrid said. "Well, I'm teh be off…"

Hagrid left them for another boat. Before long, he was leading another person to the boat. 

"Remus Lupin," Remus said, feeling very much like a broken record.

"Lily Evans," the girl said almost shyly. 

"I'm James Potter."

"Sirius Black at your service!" 

Lily peered at them in the twilight. "It's _you_! You spider-spellers!" 

"You're that girl?" 

"Yes I'm that girl!"

"Imagine that…"

"That was mean," She sniffed.

"You could at least try to be pleasant, you know," James said rather irritably. "I'm trying to have a good time here!"

"Well you should have thought of that before you spelled that spider."

"It was an _accident_," James explained.

"Some accident. And you broke that poor Severus Snape's nose."

"His fault," James grumbled. "Who stands behind a door?"

"I'd apologize to him if I were you," Lily informed him.

Sirius and Remus watched the exchange bemusedly.

"Luckily you aren't me," James shot back. "So shove it!" 

Lily glared and then turned to face the castle. When the boat reached the other end of the moat, she jumped off and was one of the first to follow Hagrid to the castle doors.

"Thank you, Hagrid," A crisp voice said. 

"Yer welcome, Professor." Hagrid winked at the first years and disappeared down an obscure path.

"Follow me," the woman Hagrid addressed as "Professor" said curtly. She turned and swiftly walked across a large hallway and into a smaller room.

The students followed at a slower pace. They gawked at the lavish castle surroundings. Tapestries adorned the walls, moving portraits that Lily found absolute amazing _talked_ to the students, and decorations adorned every square inch left. 

"I am Professor McGonagall," The witch said. "Deputy Headmistress, Transfiguration teacher, and Head of Gryffindor House. Before you undergo sorting-"

Butterflies rose in Lily's stomach.

"-I will be explaining a few things. The first is Houses. Houses are the "families" the school is divided into. You will be sorted by an impartial judge according to personality. While you are here, the members of your House will be your closest companions. You shall share the success of your triumphs and the bitterness of failures. House members gain points for doing good, lose points for breaking rules. At the end of the year, the House with the most points will win a prize."

A few first years looked smug about this. Lily wondered why.

"I wish you the best of luck. Follow me."

Without another word, Professor McGonagall pushed open two doors that reached to the ceiling and walked through them.

Unsure, the first years filed through the doors and followed. Lily found herself in a dining room of sorts. Four long tables stood in the center of the room. Each of the tables was decorated with either a yellow, green, red, or blue tablecloth. The students at each table peered down at them. Flags on the walls in each of the four colors gave the names Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff. Lily supposed these were the houses that everybody had been talking about. Lily followed the rest of her class up to the front of the dining hall. A long table faced the rest of the tables. Adults sat here: the teachers. In one large chair sat an old man.

He had a long white beard and knowing blue eyes that twinkled merrily. Lily felt a bit better after looking at him. Obviously he had seen many of these ceremonies. If they had been disasters, would there be this one?

Lily stood to face the stool that all seemed to be looking at. On the stool sat an old, dingy hat. It looked as if it had once been blue, but was now fading into gray. There was a huge rip at the seam. Quite suddenly, the seam opened up and began to sing.

Lily was far too surprised to listen to what it was saying, although she caught the house names several times. By the time her shock had somewhat subsided to the butterflies in her stomach, the hat had taken its bows amid thunderous applause. 

"When I call your name, please come forward and try on the hat," Professor McGonagall instructed. "Adams, Lucy."

Adams, Lucy stumbled forward, looking positively terrified. She approached the hat and sat down, putting it on her head.

The first years waited in breathless silence, craning their necks to catch a better view.

"RAVENCLAW!" The hat shouted.

The blue table let out a loud round of cheers.

"Allen, John."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The yellow table cheered.

"Bridges, Samantha."

"SLYTHERIN!"

Now it was the green table's turn to applaud.

"Bell, Alexia." 

A sort of short girl with chocolate brown hair dignifiedly approached the hat. She set it on her head. 

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Bell, Elizabeth."

This time, a girl who seemed to be the same height as the previous Bell walked to the hat. The only difference between the two seemed to be that she had curly hair. _Twins_? Lily wondered. Elizabeth Bell gingerly set the hat on her head. 

After a pause, the hat shouted "GRYFFINDOR!" 

_Definitely twins, then_, Lily decided.

"Black, Sirius."

Lily watched the annoying prat who had grown that spider walk up to the hat. He gave the crowd a winning smile as he dropped the hat over his face. The hat considered for a moment.

"GRYFFINDOR!" 

The red table cheered and welcomed Sirius in. 

As the last names grew closer to the letter "E," the butterflies in Lily's stomach intensified.

"Evans, Lily!" 

Lily swallowed and stepped forward. Ignoring everybody else, Lily approached the hat and set it over her head.

_A little nervous, are we?_

Lily blinked. Was the hat speaking to her? "A bit," She admitted.

_I see you swallowed your fear though_.

"No, just my spit."

The hat laughed inside of her head. _You have spunk. Very nice. You also have a great deal of spirit and loyalty. I know just the perfect place for you. _"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily pulled the hat off of her head, relieved. Placing it back on the stool, she approached the table that was cheering.

"Welcome to Gryffindor!" 

"Hello there!"

"Glad to have you!"

Lily was welcomed and patted on the back and smiled at from every angle. She felt herself grinning widely, more relieved than anything else. She was pulled into a place in between two older girls. They both grinned at her. 

"Lupin, Remus."

Sirius' friend walked to the hat. Sirius waved to him before the hat took him out of sight.

"GRYFFINDOR!" It announced after a while of thought.

Remus walked to the table and sat down next to Sirius, looking quite pleased with himself. Lily looked away. 

"Monahan, Stacey."

"SLYTHERIN!"

"Nelson, Lindsay."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Pettigrew, Peter."

A short, chubby boy trotted to the hat. The hat took a long two minutes to decide what to do with the boy.

"GRYFFINDOR!" It finally shouted. The boy looked relieved and approached the table. 

"Potter, James."

Lily glared at the boy who put the hat on his head. It had barely touched his hair when it shouted "GRYIFFINDOR!"

"Oh great," She groaned. She glared at James when he sat down. He caught her eye and winked. Lily scowled and looked away.

After "Snape, Severus," who was sorted into Slytherin with a bandage on his nose, through "Zaire, Liana" were called, the man with the white beard stood.

"Good evening," He said to the students. Instantly, all the whispering stopped. "I have been asked to make a speech tonight. Unfortunately, I have grown old and have a short memory and have had to decline."

He sat down among laughter.

"Professor Dumbledore gives the best speeches," The girl next to Lily said. "He's the best headmaster Hogwarts has ever had, not to hear the Slytherins say it. They're not the most pleasant bunch, you know." 

Before Lily could question the girl, she was offered a plate of ham. "Ham?"

Lily gawked. The once empty golden plates were now filled with every manner of dinner food Lily could imagine. 

After completely stuffing her face, Lily found she was a great deal more tired than she previously thought. This was when Dumbledore made his real speech.

"The caretaker of this school, Apollyon Pringle, has asked me to deliver a message. Biting Toads are hereby banned from the halls, as are a number of other objects. Please ask Mr. Pringle for the full list." Dumbledore paused. "Also, the Forbidden Forest is Forbidden to students of all years, hence the name. And now, with the school song, I shall dismiss you all to bed."

Lily noticed that some of the teachers' smiles were waning at the mention of the song.

With a wave of his wand, a ribbon shot out of the end of Dumbledore's wand. It twisted into words. 

"Pick a tune and begin to sing!" He directed.

The school seemed to need no invitation. 

"Hogwarts Hogwarts Hoggy Warty Hogwarts  
Teach us something please  
Whether we be old and bald or young with scabby knees  
Our heads could do with filling with some interesting stuff  
For now they're bare and full of air  
Dead flies and bits of fluff  
So teach us things worth knowing  
Bring back what we've forgot!"  
Just do your best we'll do the rest and learn until our brains all rot!"

Lily finished rather quickly with a fast tune. She patiently waited until only Sirius, James, and Remus were left singing the song as a ballad in high falsettos. 

Lily ignored them and continued to do so even after they were dismissed. She let her eyes sweep over them as she stood up to walk with the rest of the Gryffindors the dorm.

"So Lexi and Lizzie, right? No…Lexi and Lizzie. Right?"

"Actually, I'm Lizzie and she's—"

"I know! Why don't we just call them Lexabeth?" 

Lily turned her head as she went through the door to see what the commotion was. She saw James-the-prat and Sirius-the-git and Remus-the-loser making fun of the twins.

"Hey!" Lily said, glaring and putting her hands on her hips. "Leave them alone!"

"Or Lillexabeth," Remus suggested.

All three girls glared. 

"If you make fun of them I'll slap you!" Lily threatened.

"Oh, the horror!" Sirius screamed. "Somebody help us!" 

The twin with straight hair turned to Sirius kneed him. "_I'm_ Lexi," She said as she walked past him, followed by her sister. 

"Hello, I'm Lexi. What's your name?"

"Lily. And what's your name?"

"I'm Lizzie." 

All three girls smiled at each other and walked through the doors to the hall. 

"So violent," James commented after they left.

"Tell me about it," Sirius groaned, rubbing his stomach. "I think she has a rock for a kneecap."

"That's not possible," Remus argued.

"Yes it is! If you used the genouvious charm…"                                       

The three boys turned and closed the hall doors behind them. From the other side of the great room, the corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched upwards. "This will be an interesting year," He mused out loud. "Very interesting indeed."

* * * *

A/N: This is the first installment in a story that will take you through the first year of Lily and James' Hogwarts education until their untimely death. Because this is my first of few author's notes, I have quite a few things to say. The first is about other characters. I couldn't expect Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter to befriend only each other while they are at Hogwarts. Therefore, I saw fit to introduce a few characters of my own creation. I hope to bring them to a believable state, as much as any of the rest of the characters, so bear with me! If you have any problems with the other characters, let it out in a review! I'll try to address your concerns J

Secondly, if you have any pranks or scene ideas that you'd like to see please review or e-mail me! I'd of course give you credit for the ideas.

Thirdly, the story is rated PG for now but will grow to be PG-13 because of romance and language (they'll be teenagers soon!). 

Lastly, the standard disclaimer applies to this story. I will put it below for those of you who feel like reading it. Thanks for reading!

The idea of the wizarding world and most characters, sans the characters Elizabeth Bell and Alexia Bell and a few others, belong exclusively to J.K. Rowling. 


	2. Wingardium Leviosa

**Famous Last Words**

By SacredDreams

****

_For Libby, Gena, Ankita, and Ginny 3_

A/N: I really hate these so I'm awfully sorry to be giving you one, but I seem to be having a bit of trouble with ff.n…nothing is centering and I'm not sure why. I'll try and have the spacing and such fixed soon!

"Wakey wakey," Sirius crowed, hitting James over the head with a pillow.  
James pretended he was asleep.  
"That's not fooling me! Get up. I'm the only one awake and if I hit Remus over the head he would probably curse me to death." Sirius said, hitting James harder.  
"Did it ever occur to you that I could just as easily curse you?" James grumbled.  
"Yeah, but I know your mum and she would kill you!" Sirius said.  
"Shut up, you lunatic, and get some sleep!" James muttered, pulling the blankets over his head.  
"Wake UP, you lazy git!" Sirius responded, whacking him harder.  
James sat up and pushed Sirius off his bed with a loud thump.

"Good morning to you, too," James said.  
Seconds later, he rolled of his bed and dove under Remus' to escape Sirius' mad pillow.  
"Ra!" Sirius yelled, yanking on James' ankle.  
"Go play somewhere else," Remus said over James' yelps, opening one eye and staring at them like they were insane asylum escapees.  
"Good idea," James said, grinning, and made a break for the door.  
Sirius followed, only to have the door slam shut in his face. "I'll get you for that!" Sirius shouted, opening the door and following James' peals of laughter and running down the stairs.  
"Ah! Help!"  
"I've got you now!"  
"Leggo, you ugly brute!"  
"Ouch! When's the last time you cut your toenails?"  
"About a month ago. Why do you ask?"  
"Because you just cut me with them!" WUMPH!  
"Ah!"  
Lily's eyes opened to slits. Before she could inquire as to who was yelling at such an ungodly hour, the outbreak continued.  
"Sirius, you git! Give me back my socks!"  
Sirus? That prat from the train?  
"No way, toenail boy!"  
Then who was the other voice?   
"JAMES!"

Lily's feet hit the floor with a loud thump. Before she could think of any coherent response to the outbreak of noise, she was marching down the stairs and into the common room.

The two boys jumped apart from their wrestling match on the floor when a voice reminiscent of Mrs. Potter's snapped, "What are you doing?"

"Ah!" James yelped, thinking it was his mother, and rolled across the floor away from Sirius and his socks, smacking into legs covered with a white nightgown. The girl lost her balance and fell, carried by James' momentum into a tangled heap on the ground.

"Ow," James moaned, rubbing his stomach. "Move your elbow."

"I can't," Lily retorted, you're laying on it, _toenail boy_."

James rolled onto his back and Lily extracted her limbs from James'.

"Why'd you come and yell at us?" Sirius asked, irritated.

"Yeah, Lily. It's early; you might've waken somebody up," James added.

Lily stared at them, mouth agape, as two spots of red colored her cheeks. "I'm making noise!" She hissed in a shrill whisper. "_I'm _making noise! You two-" she pointed accusingly at the two boys "-woke _me_ up with your antics and I came down to tell _you_ to shut up! You're not supposed to play this early in the morning!"

"Well what would you be doing at this hour if you were awake? Brushing your hair?" Lily glared at James.

"Think of it this way," Sirius said pleasantly. "Now you have more time to get ready."

Lily glared a final time and turned on her heel, marching back up the stairs to the girls' dormitories.

Just quiet enough to keep from waking her roommates, Lily huffed to the vanity table. She glared at her reflection in the mirror for a moment before sitting down and running a brush through her red hair.

James and Sirius, needless to say, were the first to arrive to breakfast. The House Elves polishing the tables looked up and squeaked in dismay to see the two students so early.

"You is too early!" The House Elf with a polka-dotted cap protested, shooing them with her hands.

"Sorry," James and Sirius apologized in unison, stumbling over each other to run from shooing hands.

"Stops! Sirs can bes here, Dotty!" Another House Elf said hurriedly.

The House Elf seemed to vanish in thin air, and Dotty along with it.

Sirius and James eyed the rest of the room warily.

"That was weird," Sirius said slowly.

"I heard Dumbledore is liberal with the House Elves," James shrugged. "I guess it's true."

Sirius nodded and both took their places at the table to wait for breakfast.

It wasn't long before other early-rises staggered in, most rubbing their eyes and falling into their seats.

By the time breakfast magically appeared on the table, James and Sirius were ravenous. They piled their plates high with scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, waffles, as well as anything else that came their way.

"Hungry?" Remus asked with a smile, sliding into the seat across from them.

"Yffth," Sirius replied through a mouthful of food.

"First years!" A clear voice rang out. "Here's your schedules! First years!" A prefect walked by and handed schedules to the boys.

"Look, we've got charms first!"  Sirius exclaimed. "I bet we get to learn how to make fireworks shoot out of our wands!"

"And if you take my socks again," James said threateningly, pointing his wand at Sirius' robes. "You'll find yourself very cold."

Remus and James laughed as Sirius pulled his robes tighter. 

From the other end of the table, two girls glared at the three boys.

"How could they be so _awake_?" Lizzie grumbled, pushing her breakfast around on her plate. "It's way too early."

"Then maybe you shouldn't stay up all night anymore," Lexi teased, pushing her identical twin's shoulder. "We have Charms first! You're going to need your full attention for that. Don't forget what happened to Uncle Jacques."

"What happened to Uncle Jacques?" Lily inquired over a blueberry muffin, forcing herself to stop glaring.

Lexi and Lizzie looked at each other. "Well," Lizzie started. "He wasn't very good at Charms…"

"And he was really clumsy, too," Lexi jumped in. "One day he shattered a mirror, and everyone knows what happens then-"

"-seven years bad luck," Lizzie interrupted. "So he tried to put it back together to escape the bad luck, except it had already set in. So when he tried to put the mirror back together-"

"-he tried to use the reparo charm," Lexi interjected. "And he did something wrong and the charm reflected off of the mirror. He turned into a cricket in front of Aunt Hilda's very eyes and jumped away. We never saw him again."

"But Hilda keeps every cricket she finds now," Lizzie said cheerfully.

Lily stared at the twins. Were they serious, or were they just joking?

"You're joking," Lily decided.

"'Cross my heart it's true!" Lizzie said, touching her heart.

Lily raised her eyebrows and did her best to look skeptical, but felt her stomach lurch. By the time she had taken her seat in Charms class she knew why: she was a tiny, little bit scared.

"Welcome students!" The tiny professor squeaked, waving his wand in the air and beaming. Streamers shot out of the end and arched over the class, disappearing with a flick of his wrist.

"Wow!" James said, grinning widely at Sirius.

"I am Professor Flitwick, Professor of Charms. I'm very pleased to be teaching you Charms 1!"

Lily smiled weakly at the enthusiastic Professor. It was hard to match his enthusiasm when Lily was scared out of her wits. She didn't hear a word the Professor said, even though she watched his mouth move. What if she messed up like Uncle Jacques? She could end up as a cricket—or worse!

"We'll begin with a simple levitation spell," Professor Flitwick said. "Groups of 3 will do quite nicely. Just remember to catch anyone who flies up!"

The Professor distributed feathers among the students as Lizzie and Lexi pushed their desks up to Lily's.

"Our first charm already!" Lizzie said excitedly. "I thought we'd get a few lectures in before we could do anything!"

"Yeah," Lily said. "So did I."

"I'll go first!" Lexi volunteered, grabbing her wand and raising her arm. Imitating the Professor she flicked her wrist, haltingly reading the words off the board. "Wingarbium Leviosa!" The feather sank through the desk.

Lily, Lexi, and Lizzie all stared wide-eyed at each other.

"Lexi!" Lizzie hissed. "What did you do?"

"I didn't mean to!" Lexi protested. She peered under the desk at the floor. There was no feather.

She craned her neck and looked at the bottom of the desk and saw a feather pressed into the wood.

She came back up and smoothed her hair. "Nothing happened. Lizzie, it's your turn."

"Okay," Lizzie said. She picked up her wand and gave it a few practice flicks. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather jiggled but didn't move otherwise.

"Darn it," Lizzie said, wrinkling her nose.

"Your turn, Lily!" Lexi said, eager to go again.

"Do you want to have another go at it Lexi?" Lily asked.

"No, it's your turn," Lexi said, pushing a feather towards Lily. "Go on!"

"Right."

Lily gripped her wand until her knuckles turned white. She swallowed and flicked her wrist. Her voice trembling, she said, "Wingardium Leviosa."

The feather didn't move.

"Good try!" Lexi said. "My turn!"

"No, look!" Lizzie said, smiling. Lily's feather was slowly, uncertainly, rising up.

"Ah, someone with a natural affinity for Charms!" Professor Flitwick said excitedly. "Try it with a bit more confidence next time—Charms react to feelings."

"Thanks; I'll try that," Lily said, flushing.

"Try it again!" Lexi urged. "Only this time be confident! You heard the Professor."

"Okay," Lily said. Charms wasn't as bad she thought! She hadn't turned into a cricket, had she? She flicked her wrist and repeated the spell.

Behind her, Sirius playfully shoved James as he, too, flicked his wrist and spoke the spell. James' spell, thrown off by the shove, didn't hit the feather. Instead, along with her feather, Lily shot straight up to the vaulted ceiling.

Sirius's jaw fell as the class silently looked up at Lily, who was holding a beam for dear life.

"Whoops," James said.

"Good heavens, boy, watch your aim!" Professor Flitwick sputtered, springing to James. "Let her go and I'll catch her."

"Let her go?" James repeated, confused.

"With the wand! Break contact with the wand!" the Professor explained, exasperated.

"Right," James said. He looked at his wand, which was pointing towards Lily, and moved it so that it pointed straight down.

Lily let out another piercing scream as she slipped from the beam and fell straight downwards. Suddenly, she was floating as softly as the feather beside her and landed gently on the ground.

"Are you okay?" The Professor asked, hurrying over. "The Feather Charm helped?"

"Yes, I'm quite all right," Lily said, flushing scarlet and pushing her hair behind her ears. When the Professor turned away, she sent a murderous glare towards James. He shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

"Be careful of your aim, students!" Professor Flitwick said loudly. "Class is dismissed!"

Lily gathered her things and left as quickly as possible, with Lexi and Lizzie trailing behind.

"Are you all right?" Lizzie asked, looking worried. "It was really high up there…"

"Don't remind me," Lily moaned. "I'm terrified of heights. That's why I was closing my eyes."

On the other end of the hall, Sirius threw an arm around James' shoulders. "Congratulations, old pal!" He said gallantly to James's scowl. "You just successfully performed your first charm!"

"Thanks to you, it was a smashing success," James said sarcastically.

"Well think of it this way," Remus started. "With a little practice and control, you could levitate anyone, anytime, anywhere."

James and Sirius grinned widely at him. "Good point, old boy," James said mischievously. "Good point."

"Welcome to Potions," A short and slightly plump brunette said, sweeping into the room. Dropping books onto her desk, she beamed at the class, revealing a perfectly white smile and rosy cheeks. "I'm Professor Bandworth. We'll begin by taking roll."

The students obediently recited "Here!" until the Professor reached "James Potter!"

"Absent," He said loudly.

Remus snickered.

Professor Bandworth raised her eyebrows.

"I mean present," James said, flashing her a brilliant smile.

"That's what I thought," Bandworth said before addressing the entire class. "One of the first things you will quickly notice is that you will always be working with at least one partner. Unfortunately, there is not enough space in this dungeon to work alone, as the other is being searched for lumpwags."

Students whispered excitedly, grabbing arms of new friends.

"The second thing you will notice is that I choose the groups."

The class fell silent.

"The groups are chosen at random. I trust you will all be able to work as a successful team no matter who you are paired with," Professor Bandworth nodded decisively. "Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'll read off the group parings. Lindsay Nelson, Zachary Gates. Stacey Monahan, Carl Junker. Sirius Black, Elizabeth Bell-"

Lizzie looked despairingly at her sister before turning her gaze to Sirius. He winked cheekily at her. She moaned.

"-Severus Snape, Hannah Brewster. Alexia Bell, Remus Lupin-"

Lexi kept her gaze straight ahead, only allowing herself to react by pursing her lips.

"-Lily Evans and James Potter."

Lily and James' jaws dropped.

"How could I have gotten paired up with _him_?" Lily hissed to Lexi and Lizzie.

"Of all the luck…"James grumbled. "I get stuck with the girl I levitated."

"I'll write out the instructions on the board," the Professor continued. "Set up your supplies and start working!"

Lily dragged her feet to James' workstation. "Hello, Potter," She said sourly.

James nodded, trying to remember her last name. "Erics," He said.

Lily raised her eyebrows. "It's Evans."

"Right. Evans," James said, slightly embarrassed. "Let's get to it then, shall we?"

Still miffed about floating in Charms class, Lily said nothing but went to the front of the room with the rest of the crowd of students to get potions ingredients.

While she was gone, James read the instructions off of the board. "A Shrinking Potion is made of the following," He read. "1 dried caterpillar, 5 chopped daisy roots, 1 splash leech juice, 1 rat spleen, 1 shrivelfig. Sounds easy enough to me!"

"Did you write it down?" Lily asked, dropping the ingredients on the desk.

"No," James answered, reaching for the rat spleen.

"Well write it!" Lily said, pushing his hand away. "While I chop the daisy roots."

"Right." James selected a quill, dipped it in ink, and wrote down the ingredients from memory. 

_Shrinking Potion :_

_1 dried Caterpillar _ _4 Daisy Roots _ _Leech Juice _ _2 Rat Spleens _ _1 Shrivelfig_

"Why don't you powder the caterpillar?" Lily suggested, still chopping roots.

"Okay," James agreed. Time passed in silence as the rest of the class chattered.

James looked over at Sirius as he heard his friend burst into laughter.

"Oh come on, it's just a rat spleen," Sirius teased.

Lizzie made a disgusted face. "Gross!" Lizzie stuck out her tongue. "It's dripping green stuff!"

Sirius brought it closer to her face before she hit his hand, forcing Sirius to drop it into the potion.

"Spoilsport," Sirius accused, tugging one of Lizzie's curls.

James rolled his eyes. Sirius was always joking around when things were supposed to be serious.

"Ready with the caterpillar?" Lily asked, trying to keep her sentences as short as possible.

"Ready!" James chirped. He poured in the powder. Lily stirred her daisy roots in, leaving James to search for the flask of leech juice.

"Gross," James said, plugging his nose as he uncapped the flask. He poured in the entire flask and recapped it.

"Okay," Lily said. "Now we have the rat spleens." She looked at James and smiled sweetly.

"Oh no you don't!" James grinned. "I know that face. It's _your_ turn."

Lily grabbed the jar of rat spleens and extracted two with the tips of her fingers and hurriedly dropped them into the potion. "There," she said with some relief.

She stirred the potion while James fidgeted.

"Um, Lily?"

"Yes?"

"Sorry about Charms."

Lily blinked. "It's all right," She said. "I'm a little afraid of heights, so I guess I overreacted." It was his first Charm, after all, she reminded herself. "And the Potion should be done."

Lily gave it a final stir and stood up as James came to peer into the cauldron.

"What is that?" James asked, pointing at something rising in the middle of the potion.

Lily squinted at it. "Is it a bubble?" She asked.

"Will it break?" James asked.

As they stared at each other with wide eyes, the bubble burst.

Lily screamed as drops of liquid hit her arms as she tried to protect her face. James furiously wiped a glob of potion off of his cheek and nose. It seemed to be absorbing into his skin!

"James!" Lily shrieked. "You're GREEN!"

"What?" James demanded. "I'm what?!"

Lily dove into her bag and pulled out a hand sized mirror. James peered into it and was shocked. His nose and cheek—where the potion had landed—was a neon green.

"My arms!" Lily moaned. "They look like they have _fungus_!"

Professor Bandworth hurried over. "Oh dear," She said, looking over the two students. "What happened here?"

"I don't know," James explained. "I wrote down the ingredients but it came out all wrong."

The Professor picked up his parchment and read over what he had written. "You wrote down the ingredients incorrectly," She said. "And did you remember to stir clockwise?"

Lily and James glared accusingly at each other.

"I suppose we'd best get you off to the hospital wing then. Run along, I'll clean your area."

"You wrote down the ingredients wrong?" Lily hissed as soon as they were out of view of class. "Good God, Potter, can you do anything right?"

"Well I wasn't the one who stirred counterclockwise!" James said angrily. "So I wouldn't go thinking it was my fault, Evans!"

"What, do you think stirring the wrong way would affect a potion as much as putting in the wrong ingredients?"

"Yes!"

"Well you wouldn't know, would you, Potter?"

"Shove off, Evans."

"You shove off!"

Lily pushed James into the wall and ran up the stairs to the infirmary.

James picked himself up and glared at her fleeing form. "Stupid girl," He said to himself. "The infirmary's downstairs."

Lily spent her lunch hour finding her way back downstairs and to the infirmary, directed by the portraits on the wall who were only too happy to help once they stopped laughing.

Lily pulled out her schedule and looked up her next class. "Herbology," She read. "Taught by Professor Malloren in Greenhouse 1."

Tucking the schedule back into her bag, Lily made her way to Greenhouse 1, careful to read the signs posted on the Greenhouses before entering to make sure she was in the right building.

"Lily!"

Lily turned to see Lizzie and Lexi standing at the opposite end of the greenhouse.

"Finally found the infirmary?" James said.

Lily held up her head and walked past him as Sirius and Remus smothered their snickering.

"Hi Lexi! Hi Lizzie," Lily said, smiling. "I can't wait for this class to start! My mother loves to garden, it would be fun to-"

"This class is not muggle gardening, I can assure you."

Lily jumped and turned to face a Professor with long black hair that fell in curls to her lower back. She had large violet eyes framed in thick black lashes and creamy brown skin. Her mouth was curved into a smile that made every boy in the room fall into silence.

"I am Professor Malloren," she said. "And contrary to what this student has just said, Herbology is not gardening."

Professor Malloren turned her gaze back to Lily. "What's your name and House?"

"Lily Evans. I'm a Gryffindor," Lily said proudly.

"A Gryffindor," Professor Malloren smirked. "Of course. Five points from Gryffindor for your ignorance."

Lily's jaw dropped.

"That's not fair," Lizzie protested.

"I assume you're a Gryffindor as well," the Professor said. "Five more points from your house."

Lizzie pouted.

"Geez, was she a Slytherin or something?" Sirius muttered.

"As a matter of fact, Mr. Black, I'm the Head of Slytherin House," the Professor haughtily informed him. "Five more points from Gryffindor for your cheek."

The Gryffindors looked around at each other and bit their tongues to keep from saying anything more.

"Now that we've dealt with Gryffindor impudence," the Professor said, making the Slytherins snickers, gather around this table to observe the proper way to feed a Jupiter Fly Trap."

A shy Gryffindor girl raised her hand. "I thought they were Venus Fly Traps," She said softly.

"Muggle born, are you," the Professor said rather than asked. "Jupiter Fly Traps are the next step up; much too dangerous for muggles. Now, as I was saying…"

James, Sirius, and Remus watched with little interest as the Professor took a pinch of food from a jar, forced open the plant's mouth, held it open, and shoved the food down its throat.

"You will need three people to accomplish this," the Professor said. "I don't think I need to tell you to watch your hands."

James, Sirius, and Remus quickly grabbed a more docile-looking plant and positioned themselves around it.

"Vinnie?" James asked incredulously, eyeing the name scripted on the front of the pot. "Since when do people name their Jupiter Fly Traps?"

"Since she was born," Remus nodded towards their teacher.

"She's gorgeous," Sirius commented. "Too bad she's a Slytherin."

All three nodded solemnly, fixing their eyes upon the Professor.

"Okay, let's all grab food and stuff it down its throat," Sirius suggested, reaching his arm to the plant.

"Sirius you'll get your arm eaten," Remus knocked his hand out of the plant's reach.

"Sirius, grab its stem so it won't wiggle, I'll force the mouth open, and you feed it, James."

"Sir, yes sir!" Sirius saluted.

"Go!"

The three descended on the plant and James managed to force some food down its throat.

The plant made a growling noise and tried to snap at them as soon as Remus let go of its mouth.

"Haha, can't get us from there!" Sirius taunted, sticking his tongue out at the plant.

"Let's switch positions," James suggested. "I'll hold the mouth, Remus, you get the stem, and Sirius can put in the food."

"Sure," Remus agreed.

"Great!" Sirius grinned.

Once again, the three approached the plant. Remus and James immediately grabbed the plant Sirius stuck its hand down the poor plant's throat.

"Ouch!" James yelped as he was cut by the plant's teeth. He let go of Vinnie's mouth. Vinnie snapped his jaws ominously and clamped down on Sirius' arm.

"Ah!" He cried. "Leggo! Leggo, you stupid Jup—er, Vinnie!"

"James!" Remus said shortly, trying to pull Sirius out of Vinnie's grasp. "Why'd you let go?"

"It _bit_ me," James said, still shocked.

"What is going on here?" Professor Malloren demanded, looking very cross.

"Well, um, Professor," Remus started. "Vinnie's trying to eat Sirius.

"I can see that," the Professor snapped. She looked at Vinnie and her expression softened. "Vinnie," She gently scolded. "You know better."

Vinnie sullenly let go of Sirius' arm, straining towards Professor Malloren.

"I can see my work is cut out for me," Malloren said, eyeing Sirius. "Class is dismissed."

Sirius walked dignifiedly out of class. Once clear of the Greenhouse, he flung his bag into the air, raining books and parchment onto the ground, gave a great whoop, and ran around Remus and James.

"Transfiguration!" He yelled. "We get to turn each other into strange things!"

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Is this what he's like when he eats too many sugar quills?" He asked James.

James grinned. "Not even close."

James and Remus picked up Sirius' things and followed him into the Transfiguration room.

"Let's sit in front!" Sirius said excitedly.

"No, the back," James said. "That way we can goof off and she won't see."

"Teachers always pay attention to the back because of that!" Sirius countered. "The front is obviously better."

"She can see us just even better in the front, genius, we'll be right in front of her!" James shot back.

"How about the middle?" Remus suggested. "If what you both said is true, then we'll be invisible in the middle."

Comprehension dawned on James and Sirius' faces.

Sirius slung an arm around Remus' shoulders. "Remus, old pal, have I ever told you how glad I am that you're our friend?"

"Only twice," Remus laughed, setting his stuff down on a desk.

"Well, Remus, I'm glad you're our friend!"

"Touching," Professor McGonagall said, walking in. "But please take your seats."

The class sat down, rummaging in their bags for parchment and quills.

"If you forgot, I am Professor McGonagall," The stern witch said. "It is my job to oversee your training in the art of Transfiguration."

With a flick of her wand, her desk was suddenly a giraffe. It hit its head on the ceiling and, with another wand flick, shrank back down to a desk.

"Whoa!" James said, gripping his wand. "I can't wait until-"

"It will take years for you to get to that level," the Professor continued as if nothing had happened.

James sighed.

"But today I will get you started on turning matchsticks into needles. If you'll direct your attention to the board…"

Lily sighed and leaned her head on her hand. This class was going by so slowly!

She glanced at the watch on her wrist. Sure, the giraffe bit had been exciting, but note-taking was not what Lily had expected the class to consist of. Idly twirling her wand in her fingers, Lily deftly caught the note lobbed her way from Lizzie when McGonagall's back was turned.

_Lils and Liz-_

_Isn't this class mondo-boring? I can't wait until it ends. Thank God this is the last class!_

_-Lexi_

_Tell me about it! Can't we get started with the matchsticks-to-needles instead of taking all of these notes?_

_-Lizzie_

"Any volunteers?" McGonagall asked as Lily read the note.

James, although bored out of his mind, was quick to spot a golden opportunity. He stared at Remus until Remus looked his way and then looked at Lily.

Lily sat, reading something on her desk, and twirling her wand between her fingers. She was obviously pay no attention whatsoever.

Under his desk, Remus pointed his wand at Lily's, flicked his wrist, and whispered, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The wand slowly began to levitate. Remus cursed himself for not having enough strength in his Charm, but soon forgot about that detail. As the wand lifted, Lily followed it with her hand.

"Miss Evans?" Professor McGonagall said.

Lily's head snapped up. Wide-eyed, she looked from the Professor, to her wand and hand stretched in the air, to the Professor again.

"I-I," Lily stammered.

"Don't be shy, come to the front," McGonagall directed.

Lily slowly stood and Remus broke the Charm by moving his wand.

Slowly, she approached the front of the classroom.

"Just do it like I explained," Professor McGonagall said.

Lily bit her lip. She hadn't been paying any attention!

James, Sirius, and Remus shook with silent laughter as Lily obviously panicked.

Swallowing, she raised her wand, squeezed her eyes shut, and began to improvise.


	3. Vaccio!

**Famous Last Words**

**Sacred Dreams**

_For Trinity Day,_

_In thanks for her kind and most helpful reviews_

_And Ginny 3_

Lily sniffed and buried her face in her hands.

"Don't worry, Lily," Lizzie soothed, putting a comforting hand on Lily's shoulder. "It wasn't that bad."

"Yes it was," Lily moaned. "They all laughed at me."

"They didn't do so well Transfiguring it either," Lizzie pointed out.

"James did. And he was the one who laughed the hardest."

"Well that's because he's a prat," Lexi announced, flinging open the drapes that Lily had pulled closed to conceal herself. "You're too good to let yourself get down because of him! Pull yourself together! Go out there and show him that you're strong!"

Lexi and Lizzie grabbed Lily's arms and pulled her up. "We're going to class!" They said, pushing Lily out the door.

As the three girls walked past James, Sirius, and Remus in the Common Room, James yelled out, "Hey Evans, how's the Transfiguration coming?"

Lily kept her head high and walked past them.

"Did you hear me Evans?" James called after her, slightly disappointed that he lost his chance to tease her some more.

Lily disappeared through the portrait.

"I guess so," Remus answered for him.

"I thought the idea that witches rode broomsticks was a myth," Lily admitted, pulling her robes more tightly around her to block out the crisp air.

The giant Quidditch (some sort of flying game? Lily wondered) pitch was still wet with dew, even in the early afternoon. The grassy expanse was dotted with black as students in the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff houses congregated to learn how to fly broomsticks.

Many witches and wizards, like the twins, were accustomed to flying and had no qualms about jumping on a broom and taking off.

Muggle-borns like Lily, however, were a bit more wary.

"What if you fall off?" Lily asked. "You could die!"

"So don't fall off," Lexi replied. "Lily, calm down. It's not as bad as you think."

"I'd rather just keep both feet on the ground," Lily said.

Sirius, James, and Remus seemed to have no such desire.

"Last to the sky is a rotten egg!" James yelled, jumping on a broom and taking flight. His race was impeded by a hand that grasped his broom firmly by the tail.

"Not just yet," A stern voice reprimanded.

James let his broom sink back down the ground and he clambered off it to face a man who couldn't be over the age of 24.

He had blonde hair and gray eyes, a striking combination according to the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw girls who were staring, and an athlete's build. Instead of the usual wizard robes, he wore muggle jeans and a muggle shirt.

"James Potter," James said, sticking out his hand.

"Professor Sincorn." The two men shook hands. "Better start class," the Professor said, ambling to the center of the Pitch.

"'Morning, class!" The Professor shouted. "If you'll all be quiet we can start learning how to fly!"

The class immediately fell silent.

"Good. I'm Marcus Sincorn, your flying Professor. Your first assignment in this class is to drop your brooms on the ground, hold your hand over them, and shout 'UP!'"

The class dropped their brooms on the ground with a dull thudding sound and obediently stuck their arms over the broomsticks.

"UP!" They shouted in a loud chorus.

James and Sirius' brooms flew straight into their hands. Remus' broom followed after a moment of hesitation. Lexi's broom came halfway up and dropped, Lizzie's rolled across the field, and Lily's did nothing.

"Up!" Lily whispered fiercely. "Up you useless piece of wood!"

The broomstick, as if in response, flew up—into the hands of the Ravenclaw student next to her.

"Um, here," The boy said, handing the broom back to Lily.

"Thanks," Lily said. Embarrassed, she tucked her hair behind her ears.

"Now that you've got your brooms, swing one leg over so that you're facing the front!" Professor Sincorn yelled over the excited chatter.

The students did as they were told, one Gryffindor boy named Peter facing the tail of the broom.

"Now, on the count of three, push off of the ground with both feet! If you need to get down, tilt the front of your broom SLIGHTLY downwards. If you need any help, just call!" The Professor cleared his throat for drama. "1…2….3!"

The students pushed off the ground and went soaring into the air.

On the other side of the field, Lizzie finally managed to grab her renegade rolling broom.

She swung her leg over it and pushed off just in time to see Sirius speeding along very close to the ground, heading straight for her. Lizzie barely had time to throw up her arms before he hit her, sending them both flying off their broomsticks and onto the ground.

"Ouch," Sirius groaned, rubbing his head. He moved his legs to stand up but found he had a problem: one leg wouldn't move. "Uh-oh," he said, staring at the broken mess of bone.

"Looks like you need to see Madame Pomfrey," Professor Sincorn said, running over. "What about her? Is she all right?"

Sirius turned to the girl he hit and recognized her as one of the twins. "Er, Lizly?" He tried. "Alizia? Are you all right?"

She didn't answer, whether from injury or insult from his terrible memory Sirius couldn't tell.

"Guess she's been knocked out," the Professor mused. "Well, we should probably get her up as well. Let's go."

Lily and Lexi watched the procession from the air. "Is that…?" Lexi began. Without waiting for confirmation, she leaned forward on her broom. It zoomed toward the scene, Lexi looking like she had been on a broom all her life.

"Wait!" Lily called, inching forward. "I'm coming, too!"

James and Remus watched Lily with some amusement before James saw where Lexi was flying.

"Um, Remus?" James said. "Is that Sirius?"

Remus and James followed Lexi, purposefully zooming by Lily with barely an inch to spare.

"Potter!" Lily yelled.

James turned and waved on his broom, showing off just because Lily could not. A reverberating scream nearly knocked him off his broom though, much to Lily's amusement.

"SIRIUS BLACK, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Lexi screamed as loud as she possibly could.

"Calm down," Professor Sincorn said, stealing glances from the hysterical first year to her twin. "It was an accident that Madam Pomfrey will have no trouble fixing. I'll be back shortly."

To the rest of the class he shouted, "Brooms to the ground! Nobody will fly while I'm gone."

Students reluctantly drifted to the ground, some toppling off their brooms onto the grass.

Sirius found that he had no problem with losing his broom, as the charm that kept him floating in the air was just as good.

"So long!" He cried to James and Remus. "I'll expect to see you and a get-well present soon!"

"If he's well enough to expect one, we shouldn't waste the sickles," James muttered to Remus out of the corner of his mouth.

Remus chuckled and waved enthusiastically at Sirius' receding form.

Satisfied, Sirius leaned back and enjoyed the ride to the hospital wing.

"What happened?" A woman wearing MediWitch robes demanded as Professor Sincorn stepped into the whitewashed room.

"We had a bit of an accident in Flying," the Professor explained. "Sirius Black here seems to have broken his leg, and the other student looks like she's been knocked out."

"I expect they ran into each other," Madam Pomfrey said, rather than asked. "We get these every year. You'd think they'd watch out but of course not…leave them on the beds, Marcus, I'll treat them there."

Professor Sincorn levitated each student to a bed. Sirius was disappointed his ride had ended so quickly.

"See you," Professor Sincorn offered as Madam Pomfrey shooed him from the hospital wing.

"Drink this," She ordered Sirius. He was tempted to salute her, but refrained from doing so when he noticed the potion in his cup looked like hot chocolate. _And Healers are supposed to only give disgusting potions_ Sirius thought. Raising the cup to his lips, he downed the whole glass in one gulp.

He immediately regretted it.

"What was that?" He gasped, clutching his throat as the liquid burned its way into his body.

"Mending Solution," She answered matter-of-factly, approaching him with a wand.

"I think I'll just let it heal the natural way," Sirius said quickly.

"Nonsense, this won't hurt a bit. Just stay still." The Healer took careful aim at Sirius' leg and waved her wand in an intricate pattern. "Resarcium!"

Sirius watched as his leg became rigid. Wincing as bones grinded, he saw his leg jerk and then go back into its normal shape.

Madam Pomfrey nodded and set her wand down.

"So…can I go?" Sirius ventured.

"Of course not. You have to wait for your muscles and such to heal! Why do you think you drank the potion?"

Sirius chose to answer, but scowled at her back and settled in for what he was sure would be a very boring stay.

Madam Pomfrey bent over the next bed and, again grabbing her want, muttered an incantation. The girl woke with a gasp. She threw her arms up in front of her face. 

"There, there," Madam Pomfrey comforted, patting her arm. "You're in the hospital wing now."

"I…what?" The girl dropped her arms and looked around.

"You were just knocked out," Madam Pomfrey explained. "I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for a bit longer for observation. No matter how precise my wand is, I won't be able to tell what you've hurt without it starting to ache!"

Without any further explanation, she bustled

 into a back room and closed the door behind her.

The two Gryffindors sat in silence for a moment, before Lizzie, rubbing her sore head, looked up at Sirius.

"Did you hit me?" She asked.

"I didn't really see you until it was too late," Sirius explained, keeping his eye on her wand. "Sorry."

"Well it looks like you took a hit too," Lizzie said, taking notice of the way Sirius was rubbing his leg. "So I suppose we're even."

"Not really," Sirius countered. "I broke my leg and you just had a nap!"

Lizzie picked up an apple from the bowl on her nightstand and chucked it at Sirius. It him in the head with a distinctive thwack. "Now it's _your_ turn for a nap."

Without another word, Lizzie flounced out of bed and opened the hospital wing door.

"What should I tell Madame Pomfrey?" Sirius called as she left.

"Exaggerate. It's your forte." She slammed the door shut.

"Marcus is so delicious!" Lexi gushed, holding her books to her chest and beaming. "His eyes are like a morning mist."

"What?" Lily snorted.

"Well, when there's mist, you never really know what the day will bring," Lexi explained. "Just like his eyes make him mysterious. They compel me to learn more about him."

"Well I don't think you could spend any more class time with him," Lily dryly informed Lexi. "You spent over half of the period shamelessly flirting, clinging to his arm begging for help."

"Well, I might have needed it," Lexi replied daintily.

"You are perfectly capable of flying," Lily retorted. "I was the one who needed help!"

"But you didn't want it," Lexi reminded her friend. "So consider my flirting a favor." 

Lily, sensing defeat, simply rolled her eyes and sat down in a wooden desk for History of Magic lessons. She hadn't an idea of what the history of magic might be, but no class at Hogwarts was boring. It was all so new and exciting!

Unlike Petunia, Lily had always been the sort of girl that enjoyed school, especially the beginning of the school year. September was the time that all school materials were fresh and clean, not yet scribbled on with notes or the names of cute boys. The books promised that Lily would learn at least 300 pages worth of new information. Judging by the enormous history textbook, Lily was certain that History of Magic would be a most informative subject.

Just as Lexi was settling in for another discussion on the exact shade of Professor Sincorn's hair, the door to the classroom burst open and Lizzie came in. Her mouth pursed, she slammed her books down on a desk directly behind Lily's and slid into her seat.

"Lizzie!" Lily said, grateful for a distraction from Professor Sincorn. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Lizzie said. "Just a bump on the head."

"You look angry," Lily observed, taking in the two spots of color on Lizzie's cheeks.

"That Sirius is a real jerk!" Lizzie narrowed her eyes at the thought of him. "It was his fault and he had the nerve to say that it wasn't fair he broke his leg!"

"And he is so yummy," Lexi sighed. "I just want to eat him up!"

"Yes," Lizzie agreed. "Let's roast him on a spit."

Lexi gave Lizzie a startled look before the door again opened, this time to reveal the apparent professor.

Unlike Lily's image of a vibrant, young Professor, the History Professor looked to be quite old. From the gray, limp hair on his head, to his doglike brown eyes and colorless robes, the Professor oozed antiquity. Lily could certainly see why the professor taught History: he was obviously around for most of it.

"Good afternoon, class," the Professor said. "I am Professor Binns."

Lily was stunned. Even his _voice_ was boring.

"If you would open your books up to page 1 and get out quills and parchment.."

Lily sat through the entire class, wondering if she had ever sat through something more boring than this. The class all seemed to slump in their seats when Professor Binns announced that they would start as far back as was possible—Mesopotamia—and progress forward to modern times. Lily was about to protest that they could not possibly cover the amount of material in a school year when she remembered that the class had seven full years to study under this teacher.

Lily rested her head on her arms. She had a feeling she was going to need a pillow—soon.

As it turned out, even the most dedicated students in the class had trouble staying awake. At varying times, most of the class was drooling or staring ahead of them in a semi-comatose state. The only person who was able to stay awake, strangely enough, was Lexi Bell.

She sat through the entire class staring at Professor Binns as though enraptured, her quill flying across her parchment.

Lizzie was convinced that her sister was crazy.

The moment class ended, Lizzie grabbed Lexi's arm and made her escape. "Are you crazy?" She asked. "You sat through that entire class paying perfect attention and took notes?"

Lexi gave Lizzie a quizzical look. "What are you talking about?" She asked, waving her parchment in front of Lizzie's face. "I didn't hear a word he was saying. I was thinking about Marcus!"

Lizzie regarded the parchment, filled with hearts and cupids and the odd scribble. "Marcus?" Lizzie asked. "Who's Marcus?"

"Don't ask," Lily said, taking Lizzie's elbow and leading her towards the Great Hall. "Just make your escape while you still can!"

Lily and Lizzie rushed ahead to the Great Hall, nearly knocking Remus off his feet in their haste.

"I thought girls didn't like to eat so they could keep their figures," Sirius remarked, hauling Remus out of the way.

"That thought was lost on them," Remus said, annoyed.

"No matter, men!" James valiantly cried. "The house elves make ham and cheese sandwiches! For those we can wait!"

The three boys pushed their way through the stream of students and in to the Hall. The Gryffindor table was not difficult to find—the crimson and gold stood out in relation to the faded brown of the history classroom. The challenge was in finding three empty seats: the table was filling up very quickly.

James, Sirius, and Remus looked to the end of the table, where most of the first years tended to sit, and squeezed in beside Grace Court and Elizabeth Lab.

"Hello, ladies," Sirius greeted. They giggled and turned away from Sirius' cheeky grin.

In the few moments that Sirius had turned away, James had grabbed three ham and cheese sandwiches—his favorite—and had stuffed half of one into his mouth.

"Hungry, old boy?" Sirius teased, himself selecting roast beef.

"Yfffth," James answered, spraying bits of sandwich onto Sirius' robes.

"Watch the robe!" Sirius exclaimed. "It has to stay clean for about two more classes!"

"Then you can get it dirty?" Remus asked.

"No. Then I take it off and put on my Falmouth Falcons robes!"

James rolled his eyes. Sirius' enthusiasm for that pathetic team was so juvenile. "You may wear Falmouth Falcon robes now, but once you grow up a little more you'll be wearing Kenmare Kestrels robes."

"What?" Sirius demanded, dropping his sandwich on his plate and narrowing his eyes at James. "Treason!"

"Yeah—treason to stupidity!" James suavely answered, ducking Sirius' flung turkey on rye.

"Hey!" James said excitedly. "With an arm like that, you'd bring the Harriers to new heights!"

"Oh shut it!" Sirius growled, throwing the other half of his sandwich. This time it was much closer to Sirius' intended target, and James wheeled backwards to avoid it. James' arm swept his goblet full of pumpkin juice right off the table and into the lap of the girl sitting on the other side of Elizabeth Lab.

"Oh, oh, oh, oh!" A girl exclaimed. James turned his head and his eyes widened. He had just spilled pumpkin juice all over Lily Evans.

"Whoops," James grinned sheepishly, scratching his head. "My bad."

Two spots of color appeared on Lily's cheeks and, taking her own goblet in hand, splashed it in James' face.

"Whoops," She said sarcastically. "My hand slipped."

James spluttered. "You just threw pumpkin juice at my face!" He snarled.

"You threw it on my robes!"

"It was an accident! And there's nothing worse than a wet collar!"

"What about a soaking robe you git?"

Later, James wouldn't remember why he had been quite so worked up. For some reason, though, this Lily girl made him as angry as he would have been if Sirius' Quidditch team beat his own. Glancing at the parchment of a third-year's homework assignment, James whipped out his wand and yelled, "Vaccio!"

Nothing happened.

Lily smirked and was about to whip out a sharp remark when a tugging at her robes made her look down. The hem was slowly unraveling into a coil of string on the floor. "Professor!" She wailed, frantically trying to stop the robe from unraveling any more.

"Oh, stop your whining," Sirius said, amiably tapping Lily on the head with his wand. Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall chose that moment to show up.

"Mr. Black," She said sternly. "What is going on?"

"They threw pumpkin juice on me and then hexed my robes!" Lily cried, displaying the mess of black thread. The robes were already shredded up to her knees.

Professor McGonagall shot frigid glances at James and Sirius.

"Finite incantatum," She said, pointing her wand at Lily's robes. The unraveling slowed and then stopped.

"Miss Evans, if you would chance I believe you will be perfectly all right," the Professor said crisply.

Lily, Lexi, and Lizzie got up from their seats, the twins drying Lily's tears. All three shot dirty looks at James and Sirius.

"Boy, if looks could kill," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"You two, however, will not be perfectly all right," McGonagall snapped. "Detention. Tonight after dinner, meet in my office and we will find a suitable punishment."

"But-"Sirius started.

"Professor, Sirius didn't-" James said at the same time.

McGonagall glared. "After dinner," She said firmly. She looked over James. "And you would do well to change as well."

James sighed and rested his head in his hands.

"Men," He said. "I solemnly swear to never consider Lily Evans anything but the enemy."

Sirius and Remus gravely nodded, watching as their friend rose from his chair and left the Great Hall.

"Famous last words," Sirius said, taking a bite of James' sandwich.

Remus agreed.

"Oh come on, it's a fantastic idea!" Sirius wheedled.

James ignored him, instead focusing on trying to find Professor McGonagall's office. He couldn't quite find his way around Hogwarts yet, and had no idea where her office might be. He was fairly sure, though, that he was nowhere near it.

The part of the castle James and Sirius were currently in looked to be old and rarely used. The stones in the wall were rough and uneven, some jutting out while others sunk in. It was freezing cold, and if it weren't for the late sunset there would be little light from the few candles scattering among the walls.

The tapestries, though, were slightly interesting, so James studied them as he tried to ignore Sirius.

Sirius took no notice though, and continued on as though James were listening. "We form a band of friends! Like blood brothers without the blood! We can make an oath and a name and everything! It will be like a secret mob of robbers, except weren't not big enough to be a mob, and we won't rob anyone." Sirius grinned excitedly. "We can be a pranking mob-that-isn't-a-mob!"

"Brilliant," James said sarcastically. "Because I've always wanted to be a part of a mob-that-isn't."

"Oh come on, Jamie," Sirius said. "You're no fun. Don't you want to be in a brotherhood?"

"A pranking brotherhood, I suppose," James replied, opening a door that turned out to be a dust-covered closet.

"See?" Sirius crowed. "A fantastic idea!"

"A really fantastic idea would be to make a map of this school," James complained. "I don't even know where we are!"

"Perfect time to take a break then, eh?" Sirius said, elbowing James.

"Yeah—after detention. I don't want to be late," James said. "Come on you lazy bum."

James lead Sirius into the next room as James scouted for possible offices.

Sirius, however, made way for a statue standing in the middle of the room. It depicted a gaunt, mournful looking woman holding a vial in her left hand. She was holding it as if it might be poison. Her right elbow was clamped to her body, but her lower arm was outstretched.

"Alberta the Albino Alchemist," Sirius read. "Hmm."

Upon consideration, Sirius decided that her arm would be the perfect backrest and leaned it against it, putting his arms behind his head to relax.

Suddenly, there was a grinding noise and Sirius feel straight to the floor, as if there was no statue arm supporting him. As he looked up, he realized that there wasn't. The statue's arm was now fully pressed against its side, and a door in the wall was slowly creaking open.

James and Sirius stared openmouthed at the Albino Alchemist.

"Thanks, Alberta" Sirius croaked.

The two regained their senses and scrambled to the passage door. Peering inside, nothing was revealed besides dark and dusty walls. The end of the revealed hall—if it was the end—was shrouded in shadow.

Cobwebs hung from the ceiling in arches, giving the hall an eerie feeling.

"We'll need a candle to go down that one," Sirius noted.

James nodded. "Or a nice little charm. I bet Remus could tell us a good one. He seems like a pretty good charms student."

"Still, if we're careful, we could probably make it through without a charm," Sirius said. "Remember how in Galvin the Great Wizard issue number nine hundred seven, he uses that-," Sirius stopped talking as footsteps echoed through the hall.

Sirius hurried to Alberta's side and lifted her hand up. The passage's door slid back into place seconds before a figure appeared in the doorway.

"Mr. Potter and Mr. Black," Professor McGonagall said, pursing her mouth. "I believe I asked you to be in my office after supper?"

Sirius grimaced. Of all the teachers to find them…

"Yes, but we got lost," James explained. "We don't exactly know how to get from place to place yet."

"And you never thought to ask?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

Sirius and James fidgeted. "Well….no," They answered.

"I see," the Professor said. "Since it is an hour past the end of dinner, you will not have enough time to finish your punishment. Therefore, I will ask that you serve another detention tomorrow night."

"But Professor!"

"Since I had no chores for you," McGonagall continued smoothly. "I asked the other Professors for ideas. Although Apollyon Pringle offered to take you on for a multitude of chores, I chose to take up Professor Flitwick on his offer." McGonagall paused. "You should be thankful."

Sirius and James both thought of Pringle's cane, required by his limp but useful for banging students with. James thought McGonagall must not be as bad as she looked if she saved them from that crotchety old man.

"It seems that a student in Professor Flitwick's class exploded a slug, and he has asked you to scrub the desks and floor. As I doubt you will adequately finish both, tonight you will be cleaning the desks and tomorrow the floor."

"Yes ma'am," Sirius said meekly.

"Let me show you to the Charms classroom, as I doubt you would find it yourselves,"

the Professor said dryly.

James and Sirius followed her down the twisting corridor, feeling all of two feet tall.

"You may begin," She announced upon their arrival.

James and Sirius faced the splatters of slug with some interest.

"Gross!" Sirius said happily.

The two busied themselves scrubbing up bits of mutilated bug.

"So," James said finally. "About that brotherhood…." 


	4. Black Veils and Yellow Ducks

**centerFamous Last Words**

By Sacred Dreams

_For Ginny my Smoothie Sister,_

_Trinity Day, who, quite frankly, is the best reviewer in the world,_

_And for Alex.__ Happy Birthday Love!_

_I feel compelled to use an author's note to apologize for the strange centering/spacing ff.n has inflicted upon this story. I have no idea what the problem is, but I'm trying something to fix it. If not by this chapter, it will be fixed by the next! _

_ /center_

_br_

_br_

_br_

"The first Saturday is _always_ for primping," Lexi informed Lily as Lizzie brought out a big box of supplies.

"But it's Friday," Lily pointed out.

"Since we aren't getting as much as sleep as we did over the summer, we ought to put cucumbers over our eyes while we rest!"

"Don't people usually put cucumbers on their eyes in the morning?" Lily asked.

"Only muggles," Lexi said offhandedly, handing a jar to her sister. "They're backwards."

Lizzie agreed, opening the jar. Using what looked like a tiny fork, Lizzie began pulling cucumbers out of the jar of potion.

"They're seeped in potion?" Lily asked.

"Of course," Lizzie said. "The muggles use plain cucumbers because they don't know any better." The twins giggled.

Lizzie handed Lily two cucumbers, and Lily warily put them over her eyes. It was like putting an ice-pack over her eyes. Lily's eyes were instantly cool.

"What does this do?" Lily yelped.

"Relax, it just cools your eyes to reduce puffiness," Lexi explained.

Lily relaxed in silence for a moment. The cucumbers did feel really good, once she got past the slimy potion.

"By morningtime, our eyes will be puff-free!" Lexi said happily, pulling her blankets up to her chin.

"Puff-free," Lily sleepily echoed.

The room soon fell silent, and all the girls fell asleep.

brbrbr

brbrbr

It was a very sunny day, Remus noticed, as he walked along the grounds of Hogwarts, so why wasn't anyone but him outside?

Usually, the students of Hogwarts swarmed along the lake when the weather turned warm. So where were they today?

Suddenly, the sun dropped out of the sky and a full moon rose into its place.

_"Remus?"_

"Get away!" Remus warned, knowing all to well what would happen.

"_Remus__!"_

"Go!" Remus shouted. Suddenly the whole earth shook and Remus' eyes flew open.

"Remus, wake _up_!" Sirius exclaimed, shaking Remus' bed by the posts.

Remus rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he looked at the clock. It read just after midnight.

"What are you doing?" Remus groggily demanded. "I'm sleeping."

"You were sleeping," James said with a grin, jumping onto Remus' bed. "We woke you up. We have an idea."

"You mean _I_ have an idea," Sirius corrected.

James rolled his eyes. "Just get on with it."

"Well," Sirius started. "James was getting us lost in the castle when I started thinking about the Indians in America."

Remus and James looked at each other.

"In all those muggle stories they have blood bonds to make them best friends. So I started thinking, why should it be any different here?" Sirius looked at his friends, expecting agreement.

"Because not everybody likes to share blood," Remus said, feeling this point was very obvious.

"Well I know that," Sirius said. "So we don't have to be blood brothers! We can be bound by something else, like a secret society! With rules and everything!"

"What kind of secret society?" Remus asked, intrigued.

"Well, a Boys Against Girls society, of course," Sirius responded. "There's nothing else we hate!"

"Eggplant," James reminded Sirius.

"Right," Sirius said. "Boys Against Girls and Eggplants."

"We're not boys!" James exclaimed.

"…We're not?" Remus asked.

"No! We're men!" James said, obviously exasperated.

"Okay, okay," Sirius placated, holding up his hands. "Men Against Girls and Eggplants."

"Well, moms are okay," Remus amended. "And some girls are really nice and smart."

"So?" James asked.

"So they help with schoolwork."

"Right!" James said. "So moms are excluded, and so are nice girls."

"What about the girlfriends we'll have?" Sirius asked.

"Well, they're okay too," James decided.

"Maybe we should change our name to Men Against girls that we don't like?" Remus suggested.

"Well, what kind of girls don't we like?" Sirius asked.

"Redheads," James said immediately. "Like Lily Evans."

"And her friends," Sirius added. "The twins."

"Men Against Redheads and Brunettes and Eggplants," James said. "I like the sound of that."

"So we're the MARBE," Remus spelled out.

Sirius gave him a weird look. "No," He said slowly, "We're the MARABAE. You forgot the two 'ands'."

"They don't use ands when they're making abbreviations," Remus informed Sirius.

"Yes they do!" Sirius insisted.

"Men, men!" James said. "Article 1 of Men Against Redheads and Brunettes and Eggplants is no fighting without a good reason! We'll compromise and be MARABE."

Find it satisfactory, the boys moved on to the next issue at hand: MARABE rules.

brbr

**TOP SECRET DOCUMENT**

**DO NOT LOOK**

**(ESPECIALLY IF YOU AREA GIRL)**

**CLASSIFIED INFORMATION**

br

_MARABE Code_

br

_We, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, hereby announce the formation of a secret society:_

_Men Against Redheads and Brunettes and Eggplants, _

_hereby__ referred to as MARABE._

_All members must adhere to the following laws:_

br

_Article I: Members of MARABE will not fight unless they have a good reason, such as the following:_

_a._ _One member has fraternized with certain redheads and brunettes_

_b._ _One member willingly ate eggplant_

_c._ _One member lied to more than one other member_

_d._ _One member spilled secrets_

br

_Article II: Members of MARABE will always be loyal to one another, but don't have to be loyal to anyone else._

_ Sub-Article II: "Anyone else" refers to other house members specifically. _

br

_Article III: MARABE is a SECRET society. Whoever spills the secret will be harshly and most severely punished. _

_ Sub-Article III: You must not divulge the secret, even under pains of death!_

br

_Article IV: If any member refuses to follow the rules, they will be kicked out of MARABE and the MARABE headquarters (fourth dorm that members James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin currently live in). They will never be allowed back in. _

_Sub-Article IV: If a member has a really good reason for disobeying the laws, it's okay. Good reasons will be decided by the rest of the society. _

br

_Article V: If any member is captured, the other members must devise a plan to rescue the captured member. All plans must involve the Jelly-Legs curse. _

br

_Article VI: If, for any reason, the leader of the club is unable to perform his duties, the man closest to his height will take over. If that person cannot perform his duties, the next closest will take over. It will progress down the line in this fashion. _

brbr

_MARABE Mission: To remain a secret brotherhood forever! _

brbr

_Positions:_

_James Harold Potter: President_

_Sirius Antonius Black: Master Prankster_

_Remus__ Jon Lupin: General Authority of Information and Planning_

br

_Sincerely Signed,_

br

_James Potter_

_Sirius Black_

_Remus__ Lupin_

brbr

"Well, that is a good name for secretary," Remus said.

"Looks pretty good, doesn't it?" Sirius said, holding the parchment up to the candlelight. "Aren't you glad we woke you up for this?"

"Surprisingly," Remus admitted. "I am."

brbrbr

brbrbr

The first thing Lily noticed when she woke up was that her eyes felt different. They felt…littler. And dry.

Lily carefully peeled off the cucumbers, which seemed to have suctioned to her eyes in her sleep. Discarding the now dry vegetable slices on her nightstand, Lily sat up and looked around the room.

A few rays of light had penetrated the curtains, dancing impishly around the room with the rising sun. Lexi and Lizzie were still sound asleep, both laying on their sides. One of Lizzie's cucumbers had fallen off her face, and Lily stifled a giggle. What if that eye turned out to be puffy, and the other wasn't?

Lily put on her slippers and robe and crept out of the dorm room. She had overheard some of the older students talking about house elves (some kind of servant, Lily supposed) that came to tend the Common Room fire in the morning. Lily hoped she could talk one of them into letting her have an early breakfast.

As Lily approached the Common Room, she heard low voices arguing. Upon entering the room, she was shocked to see that James Potter with his friends (Sirius and Remus, Lily recalled) sitting around a table and scribbling on parchment.

James, Sirius, and Remus were equally shocked to see Lily.

Sirius' cheeks flushed and he tucked his feet behind him to keep Lily from seeing his pajama footies.

Their shock quickly turned to amusement when they took in Lily's whole appearance.

"Why Lily," James said quite amicably. "Your eyes are looking especially radiant today."

Lily gave James a thoroughly odd look. "Thanks," She said finally.

"My pleasure, really," James smoothly answered, kicking Remus under the table to stop his snickers.

"Such a brilliant green color, wouldn't you say, Remus?" Sirius added.

Remus barely managed a nod.

"And those long eyelashes," James continued.

"Yes, your eyes are simply amazing." Sirius looked quite smug with himself for delivering such a perfect line.

By this time, Lily was torn between smiling brightly or guessing at an ulterior motive. Luckily, a lengthy inner debate was avoided by Lexi's intervention.

Just like every other morning, Lexi had checked the mirror the moment she woke up. Every morning she would see exactly the same thing: straight hair pulled into a ponytail, sleepy eyes, and the same skin (hopefully without any new pimples). Today, however, was an exception.

A horrifying exception.

Somehow, overnight, Lexi's eyes had shrunk. The skin around her previously lovely eyes had become pruny and swollen, her eyes narrowed to slits. Her eyelashes jutted out at strange angles and—

Lexi couldn't even stand to look anymore. "Lizzie!" Lexi said urgently, managing to keep herself under control. "Lily!"

Lexi flung the curtains from around Lily's bed only to find it empty. It was then that she heard voices from the Common Room.

Not even bothering with a robe or slippers, Lexi flung herself down the stairs.

"Lily! Don't go down there! Your eyes-"

But it was too late. Lily was standing in front of the worst possible people—James, Sirius, and Remus.

Lily turned around to greet Lexi, but stopped in midsentence.

"Your eyes!" Lily exclaimed.

"Not just my eyes," Lexi mourned. "Yours, too."

"My what?" Lily demanded. "But-"

The boys behind her failed in keeping in their laughter and began to, as Lexi described it to Lizzie, "positively _roared_."

"What could have happened?" Lizzie moaned, pouring through parchments of instruction manuals. "We didn't do anything wrong!"

"What does it say to do?" Lexi asked, frantic.

Lizzie read aloud. "_Cucumber Cumulus is a 100% effective way for you to freshen the appearance of your eyes! Our unique, one-of-a-kind potion is sure to deliver the results you want. With .5g of crushed sea dragon scales and 2 grams of authentic pixie dust, Cucumber Cumulus potion is certain to moisturize and add dazzle to your eyes. Simply apply one cucumber to each eye overnight. Not to be used more than once every three days. Please discard after the printed date._" Lizzie frowned. "See, we did everything right! Lexi checked the date, I gave each person two cucumbers, and we-"

"Actually," Lexi said in a small voice. "I didn't check the date. I thought you would."

Lily took the jar and looked at the date printed on the side, labeled in swirly print for 20 May of the previous year.

"What do we do?" Lexi asked.

"Well, I suppose we wait for it to go down," Lizzie said. "We'll just wait up here and, you know, play games."

Lexi and Lizzie were appalled to find that Lily had no knowledge of popular Wizard games. The twins quickly taught Lily the rules of a card game entitled _Princesses and Ogres_.

After 38 games lapsing 3 hours, Lily had to admit that she was getting no better at the game. Lexi and Lizzie had alternately won every single game, leaving Lily with a victory total of zero.

"How do I look now?" Lexi asked.

Lily grimaced. "Not better."

"What about me?" Lizzie asked.

Lily giggled. Lizzie's left eye was swollen worse than Lexi and Lily's eyes. Her right eye, on the other hand, looked completely normal.

"Well you look just as bad!" Lizzie retorted.

"We're not getting any better," Lexi said, stating the obvious.

"What are we going to do?" Lily cried, throwing down her cards. She was losing again anyway.

"Well, we could go see Madame Pomfrey," Lizzie suggested practically.

"NO!" Lexi said vehemently. "There is no way we can go out there! Everybody will _see_ us like this. Everybody will remember us with these bug eyes!"

"Well I only have one," Lizzie reminded her sister. "And we could cover the eyes!"

"With what?" Lexi asked skeptically.

"Well…eye patches!"

"So we should stumble around blinded?" Lily asked.

"Okay, so maybe that wasn't a very good idea," Lizzie admitted. She looked around the room for something to use. "I know!" She cried, launching herself at one of Lexi's dresses hanging the closet.

The dress was black, with a lighter, sheer black material over the skirt.

Lizzie spread the dress on the floor and, before Lexi could protest, ripped the sheer material off.

"WHAT are you DOING?" Lexi demanded, grabbing the material from Lizzie. "That was a lovely dress! You're going to be repairing it, you know!"

"Lexi this is our lifesaver!" Lizzie argued, taking the material back. "Watch!" Lizzie ripped the material into three big squares. She picked one square up and dropped it directly on top of her head.

"Look!" She said, modeling the look. "Problem solved! Nobody can see our faces."

"We'll look like we're in mourning," Lily observed.

"Well, we can say that our grand-aunt died," Lizzie said, tossing Lily a veil. "Put it on and let's go see Madame Pomfrey! With any luck, everyone will be at lunch."

"We can't go out in _these_ clothes and the veil," Lexi said, shocked.

"Why not?" Lily demanded. She wanted her eyes fixed!

"Yes, why not?" Lizzie asked, surveying her clothes. Lizzie happened to think her skirt was quite cute!

"We'll look silly! We have to match!" Lexi said, exasperated. She rummaged through her trunk and pulled out a few long, angel sleeved robes.

"Mum bought these for me when she thought we were going to Beauxbatons," Lexi said. "They look like proper mourning wear."

Quickly, the girls slipped the robes over their clothes.

"Let's go!"

The three girls carefully slinked down the hall and into the Common Room. Pushing a protesting Lizzie forward, Lizzie checked the room for any inhabitants.

Luckily, there were none.

"Okay, come on," She whispered. The three girls crept across the room and had almost gotten to the portrait when it swung open.

"And so I said-" Sirius broke off in laughter.

"Sirius, it wasn't that funny," James protested.

"I said-" Sirius dissolved in laughter again.

"Go on, out with it!" Remus encouraged, ignoring James' glare.

"I said "Why don't you go and-" Sirius stopped in midsentence and cocked his head. "What happened to you?"

The three girls froze, caught in the act.

"You look like you're in mourning," Remus said, taking in the three figures covered in big black cloth.

"We are," The middle one said.

"Who died?" Sirius asked skeptically.

"My cousin," the right one said at the same time the left one said, "My grand-aunt."

"Oh, so your grand-aunt who is also your cousin?" Sirius inquired, rolling his eyes.

There was a pause. "Yes!" The right one said, obviously relieved. "Grand-aunt and cousin…Beatrice."

"Poor Beatrice," The left one mourned. "So young."

"And yet so old," The right one amended. "So old."

James stared. How could they be this bad?

"Are you going home, then?" Sirius asked, having a grand time. "For the funeral?"

"Yes. In fact, we're leaving right now, so if you'd excuse us…" The middle one tried for the portrait, but was stopped by Sirius.

"You poor dear," Sirius clucked, sounding uncannily like Mrs. Potter. "Let me help you."

"Oh no, I…I…" The right one looked around for help, assuming she could see from underneath that veil.

"I insist," Sirius said, refusing to let her argue. "I would never allow a damsel in distress to walk alone! My mum raised me better than that."

Much to the rapidly increasing dismay of the girls, the mothers of all three of the boys seemed to have raised them with manners. All rushed to aid the girls.

"Where are you meeting your carriage?" James inquired gently, all charm.

"Well, um, right outside the main doors," The middle one lied.

In silence, the six walked to the main doors. James insisted upon holding the door open for the ladies to walk through first, although he let it go in time for Sirius to walk into it.

"Where is your carriage?" Remus asked.

"I expect it to be a bit late," The middle one said before the others could speak. "Mother is rather slow."

"We'll wait with you," Remus said graciously.

"Oh no, we insist," The middle one spoke again. "I think Mother would rather see us alone."

"Well, if you say so!" Sirius said cheerfully, only too happy to be out of the cold.

"We'll wait inside for 10 minutes. If the carriage hasn't come by then, we'll wait with you the rest of the time," James said seriously, touching the shoulder of the girl he was escorting. "My deepest condolences for you loss."

Sirius had the courtesy to wait for the doors to swing closed behind him before he began laughing.

"Did you see the looks on their faces?" Sirius howled.

"Considering they were wearing veils, no," Remus said.

"Just imagine the looks! Here they are, obviously trying to sneak off to the hospital wing without being seen, and we give them the most attention! They must be freezing out there!" Sirius could barely get the words out.

"And it was starting to rain," James chuckled. "Listen—it's starting to pour. They'll have to come in soon."

"We have 6 more minutes," Remus said, checking his watch.

"I bet 2 sickles that they come in before then," Sirius wagered, jingling the coins in his pocket.

"3 says they stay out the whole time," Remus said, flashing three silver coins.

"Well 5 says that they come in within 2 minutes," James said.

All three waiting, counting every agonizing second.

"Pay up, men," Remus grinned, holding out his hand.

Grumbling, Sirius and James counted out seven sickles into Remus' palm.

"Let's go get them," Remus said, flinging open the doors. "The carriage still hasn't—"

Remus stopped in midsentence. The girls were gone.

brbrbr

brbrbr

"What are we going to do?" Lizzie hissed, muffled by her veil. "This isn't going according to plan!"

"You think?" Lily asked. "And you're a horrible liar! You almost ruined it for all of us!"

Lizzie flushed underneath her veil. "Well sorr-ryy."

"We could run along the outside of the school and come back in at the other side," Lexi suggested. "It's closer to the hospital wing than this. And we can't go back inside! Not with them!"

"But it's starting to pour," Lizzie moaned, gesturing to the increasing amount of rain.

"We'll get soaked!"

"It beats getting teased by them!" Lily argued. "We'll never leave it down."

"Do you think they know its us?" Lexi asked. "We've never dressed like this before…"

"But they saw your faces earlier," Lizzie pointed out. "They know we don't want other people to see our eyes. They probably put two and two together."

"And got five," Lily scoffed. "They probably don't realize its us, but we have to keep them from realizing!"

"So let's run around," Lexi suggested. "It shouldn't be that long."

"Okay," Lizzie said reluctantly. "But let's hurry."

The three veiled girls dashed out from under the roof and straight into the path of the rain. After running until the door was out of sight, all three realized they had made a mistake.

"I'm already soaked!" Lizzie announced, water dripping through her veil and onto her face. "And I don't even see the other end of the wall.

"It's over there…a ways," Lexi answered, grabbing Lizzie's arm and forcing to her to run faster.

The three girls were running through the Quidditch field when the rain got to be too much for Lexi.

"This stupid veil! I can't even see through it!" She complained. Slowing down to take it off, Lexi failed to see where she was running and ran straight into a pole holding up the stands.

"Lexi! Are you all right?" Lily gasped, running to Lexi's side and hauling her now muddy form up off the ground.

"Ouch," Lexi said, touching her eye. "My eye really hurts."

"This isn't going to help anything," Lizzie said.

"Well I didn't run into it on purpose!" Lexi snapped.

"Let's just keep going," Lily said, glancing about. "We can go into that door over there."

The three girls closed the side door behind them as fast as possible. Lexi whipped her veil off her head, hand still over her injured eye.

The room they were in was far from the expected hallway. It was some sort of tiny bedroom. The bed was short and fat, a wooden frame with an old mattress that looked to be sagging in the middle.

The whole room seemed to be made of plain brown wood. The floor was hardwood, the dresser and bookshelf made of the same wood as the bed.

The only thing that wasn't wood was the curtains. The curtains were light blue with bright yellow ducks and purple-blue bubbles.

"Who lives here?" Lexi asked, starting to laugh at the décor. Just then, the doorknob began to turn.

"Darn door," A gruff, angry voice muttered. "I have the key right here…"

"Oh no," Lily quietly moaned. "It's that caretaker—Pringle."

"We are in so much trouble," Lexi said a little too loudly.

Pringle began rattling the door. "Who's in there?" He thundered.

"Out the window, quick!" Lizzie cried. "He hears us!" Not waiting for them to respond, Lizzie shoved the window and dove out.

Not about to be caught, the remaining girls quickly followed Lizzie, landing in a heap on the wet ground.

"Run!" Lizzie hissed, already taking off.

The three girls ran for their lives, reaching the door they were originally meaning to enter in record time.

"Take off your robes," Lexi ordered. "We want to look semi normal for Pomfrey."

The girls stripped to their soggy everyday clothes—Lizzie wishing she hadn't wore her new skirt—and entered the door. All three ran smack into Madame Pomfrey.

"Students you—what happened to you?" Madame Pomfrey demanded. Not waiting for an answer, she began shooing the girls into the hospital wing. "These first years," the mediwitch sighed, closing the door behind her.

It was then that Lexi remember. "Lily," She whispered. "I left my veil in Pringle's room."

brbrbr

brbrbr

After being unable to find the girls for three hours, James, Remus, and Sirius decided to take the matter to Professor McGonagall.

"At least we'll still make them look stupid, right?" Sirius said.

James knocked on Professor McGonagall's office door, having learned its location by heart since the night he got lost.

"Yes?" McGonagall asked curtly upon answering the door.

"We were walking down the hall a few hours ago and saw these three girls in black head-to-toe," James began quite seriously.

"Even veils," Sirius added, nodding.

"It struck as suspicious, so we wanted to notify the authority," Remus spoke.

"Well, that's a coincidence," McGonagall said, closing her office door behind the boys.

James got the feeling that McGonagall wasn't happy to be discussing this.

"Would this be one of the veils you saw?"

McGonagall held a dripping wet black veil on the tip of her finger.

_Ah-ha_! James thought. _They did go through the rain! Remus owes me three sickles! _

"Yes it is," Remus said.

"The caretaker came to me two hours ago to report seeing three students jumping out of his window and running away, all wearing black. Before he saw them, one apparently yelled 'Out the window, quick, Sirius.'"

Sirius gaped. "What?" He demanded. "I did no such thing!"

McGonagall gave him a stern look. "Three of you, three veiled students. If you had wanted to get away with it, Mr. Black, you might have tried staying quiet. Instead, you can sat quiet tonight. In detention."

All three shot looks at each other, all thinking the same thing.

Lily, Lexi, and Lizzie would pay.


	5. Green

**Famous Last Words**

Sacred Dreams

_For Ginny 3 _

_And in thanks to Trinity Day, whose review came at the right moment to get me off my lazy butt! _

"Out the window, quick Sirius?" James snorted, furiously scrubbing at the grimy dungeon floor. "We're not stupid enough to use names when we're trying to run away!"

Sirius sat up, flinging his scrubbing brush into the bucket of soap, splashing Remus in the face. "We have to clean the potions floor _without magic_ because those of those stupid girls!" He fumed. "I say that this requires for a special official condemnation by MARABE. This is taking forever!"

"No magic," James scorned. "We should practice our cleaning magic. We're not Muggles!"

"Would they really know if we didn't use magic?" Remus   questioned, using his sleeve to wipe Sirius' splash of soap off his face. "They might just think we did a really good job."

Sirius jumped to his feet, accidentally overturning the bucket into Remus' lap. "Brilliant!" He crowed. "We use magic and then just sit around talking and making motions with our scrub brushes!"

"Brilliant," Remus said, looking dismally at his wet robes.

"Know any cleaning charms, Remmie, ol' buddy, ol' pal?" James asked, feeling suddenly quite chipper.

"Well, I know one my mum uses all the time," Remus furrowed his brow, thinking. "I think I know it, anyway."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sirius asked excitedly. "McGonagall didn't take our wands!"

Remus stood and fished around in his robes for his wand, giving the dreary dungeon a last look. The dungeon floor was coated with a layer of countless drops of spilled potion and dirt students tracked in from the grounds on the bottom of their shoes. Even the bottles of unnamable objects floating in liquid were smudged by dirty fingerprints.

Mum would be proud, Remus thought, as he cast the spell. "Scourgilfy!"

For a moment, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, Remus' wand began to violently shake, and a green sludge spewed from the end. With a sinister globbing sound, the sludge clung to every surface Remus' wand sprayed it toward—the jars on the shelves, the stone on the walls, the stained glass windows, the desks moved against the walls, the stone floor…even the spaces in between the stones were filled with the foul smelling substance.

"Remus," Sirius moaned, aghast. "Your mother cleans like _this_?"

Remus stared, shocked, as the sludge coming from his wand slowed to a trickle, and then, as if a magical faucet was turning, stopped.

"Whoops," He said, unable to form an intelligent thought.

Just then the loud footsteps of Professor McGonagall rang along the corridor leading the dungeon.

"No point in it now," Sirius said glumly, kicking his now green scrubbing brush.

"Those girls," James gritted his teeth as the door opened. "Will pay."

"_And_ regular detentions for two weeks!" Lexi gasped, barely getting the words out between peals of laughter. "Every other night after dinner!"

Lily tried to muster up all of the sympathy she possessed for them. And failed. "It's not like they don't deserve it," She said. "I'm sure they've put enough people into sticky situations to deserve one of their own!"

"The potions room smells so bad we have to take classes in Dungeon 5," Lizzie said, wrinkling her nose as she imagined the smell. "What charm did they use anyways?"

"Who knows," Lily said airily. "Knowing them, they probably just tried to make one up."

"Probably," Lizzie agreed, holding the portrait open for Lizzie and Lily. "I heard it took 3 hours for Madame Pomfrey to try and get the smell out."

"I heard she didn't," Lexi said. "Celina Cestral was in the hospital wing when they were, and she heard the whole story and heard—or rather, smelled—everything. She said Madame Pomfrey couldn't even get the smell out!"

The three walked into the Great Hall and sat at the end of the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Everybody was sitting very close together, almost leaving Lily to hang off the end of the bench.

"Why is it so crowded?" Lily asked semi-crossly, shoving Lizzie over a little so she could have more room.

Lexi craned her neck and saw the problem. James, Sirius, and Remus sat in the middle of the table, scowling. The rest of the table had given them a wide berth—at least three feet on either side.

Lexi couldn't blame the Gryffindors—she could smell them even from the end of the table!

"Let's go to Charms early," Lizzie suggested, holding her nose with her hand.

The three girls quickly abandoned their seats, grabbing toast and hurrying out of the hall. As soon as the doors swung shut behind them, Lily gasped in a few breaths.

"I can breathe again," She said.

The girls ran, giggling, to the Charms classroom, but skidded to a halt as they entered. Written on the board in large, swirling script was "Surprise Exam." To Professor Flitwick's credit, the letters were sparkly and changed colors every few minutes.

"You're early!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, erasing the words with a wave of his wand.

"Does that mean the exam isn't for our class?" Lexi asked hopefully. Lizzie smiled her biggest and brightest smile to try and deter the Professor from assigning it.

"I'm afraid it is," The Professor said. "But don't worry—it's a partner exam! I'll be reading off the partners when class starts." Professor Flitwick gave a pointed glace at the clock. "In 20 minutes."

Lily, Lexi, and Lizzie walked outside and leaned against the wall. "A surprise exam?" Lexi moaned.

"I don't even remember all the charms we've learned!" Lizzie complained.

"At least it will be easy," Lily said. "It's only Charms."

The other two girls glared at her.

"And we have a chance of being paired with _them_," Lexi said. "And knowing our luck, one of us probably will!"

"Not me," Lizzie said happily. "I was paired with Sirius in Herbology once, remember? I've got my turn out of the way."

Lily made a worried expression. She had been paired with only of the boys—James—and only one time. Lexi and Lizzie had both been paired with the boys twice each. Logically, that meant Lily would be the one who was paired with them next!

"Oh no," Lily said, feeling as if she might be sick. "It'll be me. I know it."

Lily wasn't feeling any better as she sat in Charms class.

"Don't worry!" Professor Flitwick chirped after the students' groans died away. "The exam is quite simple! In your partner paris, you will select one of the charms we have studied this term, research its origins and practical uses, and present to the class. It will be due on Friday."

Lily swallowed. Prepare a presentation? And research? With one of them? She cast a dark look at the three boys, who sat in the back corner of the classroom. They were talking amongst each other, probably not even hearing a word the Professor was saying. Working with them would be hell!

"Hyacinth Brown and Lexi Bell," Flitwick called, beginning his partner list. Lily listened anxiously for her name.

"Bertha Betyl and Simi Rogers. Elizabeth Han and Patricia Morgan. Sam Wyseman and Virgina Lo. Ben Ringle and Amanda Smith…"

Lily gulped. Her name hadn't been called yet, and neither had any of _theirs_.

"Sirius Black and Samantha Godall."

Sirius smirked across the room at the pretty brunette in the corner. She was easily one of the prettiest in the class. Samantha winked back at him before facing front.

"Kendra Killigan and Kelly Grene. Stacy Donohugh and Keenan Reece. Ryan McLaughlin and Shane Connors. Bridget Sheldon and Remus Lupin."

Two down and only one more to go! Lily thought, feeling hopeful for the first time in twenty minutes.

"Ruth Baker and Lily Evans."

Lily shot Ruth a grateful smile. Ruth was nice, if a little shy. No boys! No boys! Lily sang inside of her head.

Professor Flitwick read off the last few names of his list, and then put the list down. "Well, now that you have all been partnered off-"

He was interrupted as Lizzie's hand waved in the air.

"Yes?" the Professor asked.

"Professor, you didn't call my name," Lizzie said.

Professor Flitwick frowned. "Oh dear," He said. "But this class is even numbered. There must be one other person whose name I didn't call."

A hand lazily rose from the back of the classroom. Lizzie turned around and her heart fell out of her chest.

James Potter grinned at her before she turned around to face Lily and Lexi.

"I'm so sorry," Lily said miserably. "It should have been me."

Lizzie couldn't find it in herself to tell Lily it was okay, so instead she just walked woodenly to where James sat.

"What charm do you want to do?" Lizzie asked, deciding she would simply try to get it over with as quickly as possible.

"I dunno," James drawled. "Why don't you choose?"

Lizzie threw him an exasperated look. "It's a partner project!"

"How about the engorgio charm?" James suggested innocently, remembering all too well the spider incident on the train. Apparently, Lizzie did too, as her eyes narrowed.

"I was thinking more along the lines of the Indosa Charm," Lizzie said, pretending that she didn't hear James' suggestion.

"Indosa Charm?" James asked, not feeling up to searching his memory.

"For removing stains from clothing," Lizzie prompted. "We studied that a few weeks ago."

James vaguely remembered. "Sure," He said. "Sounds…fascinating."

Lizzie gave him a disbelieving look, but said nothing. "Let's bring some research materials tomorrow, then," She said, as the class ended.

Accordingly, Lizzie arrived to class the next day with a bagful of library books.

"Where are your research materials?" She asked James.

"Oh, right! Just a moment," James said, fishing around in his book bag. A moment later, he set a few objects on his desk.

"A quill and paper?" Lizzie asked.

"For writing down research," James said, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lizzie closed her eyes and let out an exasperated breath. She was going to end up doing all the work, it was plain now!

"Hey, no nap time!" James protested, poking her with his quill. "We have to get to work."

Lizzie cracked open a book and removed her page marker. "_Practical Charms for Practical Uses _says-"

"Oh, hold on," James interrupted, noticing Sirius waving his arms around at him. "Be right back."

James ran across the room to Sirius' desk. "Yes?" He asked.

"You look like you're doing work," Sirius said, looking disgusted.

James laughed. "Not much, my friend."

Across the room, Lizzie glared at James' back. She grabbed his parchment and quill and began scribbling down notes. If he was going to do no research, she would just have to find something else for him to do.

The whole week, as she researched and wrote and drafted a presentation, James chatted with Sirius about Quidditch. Both were annoyed that first years were not allowed to join the House team, although they conceded it was due to the poor skill of most of the first years. At this point, Sirius cast a pointed glance at Lizzie, but she was too busy working to notice.

"Poor girl," Sirius said. "You've got her doing that all by herself?"

"Not like you haven't abandoned your partner, either," James retorted, giving a glance towards Samantha Godall, who did not look to be very happy as she dipped her quill into some ink.

"Oh well," Sirius said. "She's too good for me anyways."

As class ended, Lizzie stopped ignoring James' presence. "James," She said as he was about to leave. "Since I'm doing the research part, you wouldn't mind doing the practical bit, would you?"

Lizzie looked so worried that James found it hard not to reassure her. "Yeah sure," He answered nonchalantly.

"Great! All you have to do is perform the spell in front of the class. I'll prepare everything," Lizzie promised.

"Thanks," James said. "See you Friday."

"Friday," Lizzie repeated before turning away to hide her smile. "I can't wait."

When Friday morning rolled around, James appeared to class completely confident. "Ready?" He asked Lizzie.

"Ready," She answered, displaying a white towel with a big splotch of ink spilled on it.

James was so confident that he volunteered himself and Lizzie to go first. She was a good student, after all, and he could do a simple little charm. This was going to be the easiest Charms test of his Hogwarts career.

"The Indora Charm was created by Qian Wang," Lizzie read from her parchment. "She lived in China in the 6th century in the Emperor's Court. When her child spilled ink on her dress a little while before she was to meet the Emperor. Without time to change, she had to find another way to make the stain disappear. She was very talented in Charms, and had no problem. At first, she simply found a way to make the ink invisible. After practice and experimentation, however, she was able to take the ink out completely, and even put it back in the jar. This is a very useful spell, especially when you spill ink in the library. Simply swish your wand, say 'Indorrra,' and the stain will disappear."

Lizzie put down the parchment and held up the stained cloth. "I brought this towel so that James could demonstrate how the charm works."

James flashed a smile at his classmates. "It's quite simple," He said in an authoritative manner. "All you have to do is wave your wand to the right, then the left, and say 'Indorrra!'

The cloth stayed stained.

"Now that you know the procedure," James said, feeling uncertain. "I'll demonstrate. Indorra!" He said loudly, swishing his wand.

The ink began to move, much to James' relief. Unfortunately, it simply spread among the cloth, making the stain even bigger and darker.

The class snickered, and Lizzie bit her lip to hold back a giggle.

"Well, good try, good try!"

Professor Flitwick said, waving them back to their seats. "Next!"

James slouched in his chair and felt his ears turn red as his classmates giggled. He had never looked so stupid before in his life! And in front of the whole class. James sunk lower and sent a glare towards Lizzie's back.

After class, Lizzie grabbed Lily and Lexi and managed to make it out the door before bursting out laughing.

"How did he mess it up?" Lily asked. "He looked like he was doing it right."

"The Indora Charm only works on writing ink," Lizzie explained, pleased with her work. "I used acrylic paint from the Art Magic supply closet."

The three girls walked down the hall, giggling.

Behind them, James sent a murderous glare their way. "First detention, now this," He said menacingly. "Payback is overdue."

They walked down the hall in silence before Sirius' face lit. "I have just the thing," He promised, racing on to Gryffindor Tower. "This is gonna be good!"

"What is it?" Remus panted, trying to catch up with Sirius.

James, who had known Sirius long enough to know that Sirius wouldn't answer, didn't waste his breath asking. Instead, he flung himself over Sirius' shoulder when Sirius grabbed a catalogue from his nightstand.

"Read," He instructed, pointing at a picture. "And thank me for my brilliance."

Remus and James read, smiles creeping up onto their faces.

"Brilliant," James grinned. "Sirius, you are brilliant.

"You're sure about this?" Lily asked Lexi and Lizzie uncertainly.

"Positive," Lexi assured Lily.

"It's one of the most popular Wizarding games of all time!" Lizzie said. "Everybody likes it."

"Well, if you say so…" Lily slipped the package into the pocket of her robes and took another bite of her Pumpkin Pasty.

The Hogwarts Express sped on to its destination: Platform 9 ¾ of Kingscross Station. For the Winter Break, Lily, Lexi, and Lizzie were traveling home. Much to their relief, James and Sirius were staying at Hogwarts—guaranteeing that there would be no unpleasant surprises on this train ride.

"I'm so excited to see my parents!" Lily exclaimed, for the near-thousandth time. "Mum will love the self-warming teacup I bought! And Dad can read the Daily Prophet and keep up with the Wizarding world, instead of just the boring old Muggle one!"

Lily gripped the edge of her seat in excitement. Going home was going to be the best ever! She had loads of news to tell her parents, and to show off her perfect grade in Charms.

"We're here!" She squealed, nearly leaving Lexi and Lizzie in the dust in her hurry to exit the train. "Come meet them, won't you?" Lily asked, dodging other students to be near the front of the line waiting to cross the magical barrier.

The moment Lily saw her parents, she abandoned her trolley to throw herself in their arms.

"I got you the best presents!" She exclaimed excitedly, almost being suffocated by her mother's hug.

"Mum, stop it, you have to meet my friends!" Lily stepped back to introduce her friends. "Mum, Dad, this is Lexi and this is Lizzie."

"How do you do?" The twins said politely.

"Are you spending the holiday in London?" Mrs. Evans asked. "Why don't you hope a ferry and come over?"

"Our mother is French, so we're spending Christmas with her family outside Paris," Lizzie explained.

"Ooh, have fun!" Lily said brightly. "Send me a postcard!"

"Of course," Lexi said, smiling hollowly. Who would want a postcard from that little town? She wondered. It was the most boring place on earth!

When Lily arrived home, her enthusiasm had not yet dimmed. The first thing she did was drag her trunk upstairs to take out all her presents and put them under the Christmas tree. Surveying her room, Lily did a doubletake of the family photo on the wall. Why weren't they moving? Lily wondered, poking the frame with her wand. Lily began to run downstairs to tell her mother the picture was broken when she remembered: Muggle pictures don't move.

Shrugging the memory lapse off, she continued sprinting downstairs.

"Mum, Dad, Petunia!" She called. "I want to give you your presents right now!" She handed her parents the presents, beaming.

Petunia warily accepted hers from Lily. On first inspection, there was nothing weird about it. It was rectangular and wrapped in yellow tissue paper. Even so, Petunia waited until her mother and father had unwrapped their gifts before unwrapping her own. Finding her parents' gifts to be satisfactorily semi-normal, Petunia ripped the tissue off.

_BANG!_

The present exploded! Petunia screamed and dropped the package. Soot covered her face and her new white blouse!

"Lily Evans!" She screeched, trying to wipe the powder off. "You tried to kill me!"

"I did not!" Lily protested, picking the cards up. "It's Exploding Snap! It's just a game, the wizard version of Snap! See?" She offered the deck to Petunia again.

Petunia knocked the cards out of her hand. "Well now we can play a new game," She snarled. "52 Card Pick-up!"

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Evans said, rushing down the hallway after Petunia.

Lower lip trembling, Lily bent to pick up the cards. A few exploded in her hands, sending soot flying over the carpet.

Lily felt completely opposite than she had anticipated. She wanted to go back to Hogwarts right away. For the first time, she felt out of place in the Muggle world.

It was snowing when Lexi and Lizzie arrived at the family house. Their mother was waiting in the parlor for them.

"Alexia! Elizabeth!" She exclaimed, kissing them with overly made-up lips. "You've arrived at the perfect time! I'm throwing a Christmas Ball tonight! It will be lovely. I've bought new dresses for both of you; they're upstairs in your room. Go try them on!"

The twins gave each other looks before following their mother's orders. Their mother was not known by the twins to have the best in taste, especially when picking out clothes for them.

Lexi and Lizzie opened their boxes simultaneously, shaking out two poofy dresses. Lexi held a large, crimson dress in her hands. Underneath the dress in the box were matching gloves.

"What is this?" Lexi asked, horrified.

Lizzie regarded her matching dress. "We'll look like cream puffs in these," She complained. "Except I'll look like a burnt one. Is this dress black or blue?" Lizzie gave it a puzzled look.

"This is going to be the stupidest party yet," Lexi promised. "Just wait and see."

Eager for the party to be over with and the time to open presents to arrive, the twins changed into their dresses as the chime of the doorbell sounded.

Downstairs, they found the party to be, as expected, excruciatingly boring. All of the guests were adults with wine glasses in hand.

Lexi and Lizzie soon fled to their rooms, where they were unable to block out the music drifting up from the story below.

"We should've stayed at Hogwarts," Lizzie complained. "This is no fun."

"They're only having fun because they're getting drunk," Lexi grumbled.

The only two who didn't seem to have any holiday regrets were James Potter and Sirius Black. Both had stayed at Hogwarts, expecting the delivery of a certain joke product to their dorm room sometime during the week.

"This is the life," Sirius sighed, propping his feet on the Gryffindor Common Room coffee table. "No other students to bother us, House Elves to clean up after us, no homework or teachers to monitor us. James, we should stay for every break!"

"Fine by me," James said, rubbing his stomach uncomfortably. He wished he hadn't eaten so much of the House Elves' treacle tart.

"It's just too bad Remus couldn't have stayed," Sirius said regretfully, stretching out along the couch. "We could've taught him our secret handshake."

"What's wrong with his mum?" James asked, trying to remember himself.

"She's sick."

"I know, dummie, but with what?" James cuffed Sirius on the side of the head.

"Hey!" Sirius cried, grabbing a pillow and smacking James in the face. "Who are you calling a dummie?"

"You!" James shoved Sirius off the couch and ran up to the dorm. A wrestling match erupted into a pillow fight that only ended when James realized that the loss of feathers made his pillow rather flat.

"Look at this!" James said, holding his limp pillow up. "How am I supposed to sleep on it? It's got no more feathers!"

"Should've thought of that before," Sirius snorted, grabbing the pillow off the extra bed in the room.

James reached for Remus', but was rebuked by Sirius. "Hey—he's coming back in two days you know! He'll need a proper pillow."

"We'd better go find one then," James said, getting up. "We can exchange pillows with another dorm."

"We? Don't you mean you?" Sirius asked innocently, pulling the covers on the extra bed over his flat pillow.

"Oh come on, Sirius," James wheedled. "You'll get your present early if you do!"

Sirius jumped off the bed and dragged James to the next dorm up.

True to his word, James presented Sirius with his gift that night, amidst the house elves darting underfoot to pick up small white pillow feathers.

"Ta-daaa!" James sang, bowing and sliding Sirius' present to his feet.

Sirius made a big show of shaking the box before he avidly ripped open the wrapping paper, which displayed snowmen who alternately stuck out their tongues and winked their eyes.

Inside was an important looking, leather-bound brown novel. Sirius gasped. "Oh James, you shouldn't have!" He exclaimed in a high falsetto.

Grabbing the book, he took in the title excitedly. _Curses and Countercurses (Betwich your Friends and Befuddle your Enemies_ _with the Latest Revenges_: _Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying, and Much, Much More)_.

Sirius let out a great deal of laughter in anticipation for all of the pranks he would pull.

Not to be outdone, Sirius rummaged underneath his bed and reappeared holding an ornately decorated box.

The paper was shiny gold, and the ribbon a deep maroon. James ripped open the box to find a tray of chocolates.

Unsure if they were poisoned—after all, they had been under Sirius' bed—James looked to Sirius for an explanation.

"Only Vanilbino's finest Gourmet Chocolates!" Sirius exclaimed, looking insulted.

James selected the biggest one and ate it in one bite. Surprisingly, they didn't taste poisoned at all! James opened his mouth to thank Sirius, but the thought must've been stopped halfway. Instead, James let out a giant belch.

Sirius, who had been waiting with anticipation, nearly fell on the floor laughing.

"They're Belch Bons!" Sirius roared.

James grinned and stuffed one in Sirius' mouth, who burped even louder than James.

"With these, we're as good as Guy Maynars!" James laughed, naming the General European Champion Belcher, currently reigning from France.

"Just wait until we start giving them away!" Sirius said, displaying an order form. "I even prepared to get extras, just in case."

"You think Remus got us something?" James asked, eager to open more presents. Sirius and James got on their hands and knees and slid under Remus' bed.

"What a neat freak," Sirius grumbled at the lack of even a single dust bunny.

"Where else would you keep a present?" James mused, tapping his chin. He looked over the room, his eyes settling on Remus' trunk.

"There!" He said, opening the lid and beginning to dig through it.

Sirius joined in and they had almost reached the bottom when a puzzled voice startled them.

"What are you doing?"

James nearly fell in the trunk, actually falling in when Sirius used James' back as a lever to stand up.

"Hi Remus," Sirius said smoothly. "You wouldn't happen to have any presents for us, would you?"

Remus smiled. "Where have you looked so far?"

"Well, under your bed and in the trunk," Sirius admitted.

"I keep all the important things in the wardrobe," Remus said, pointing to the mahogany colored piece of furniture. "Considering neither of you use it."

Sirius didn't wait for Remus to finish to fling open the wardrobe door.

There, sitting on the middle shelf, were two wrapped gifts.

Sirius chucked the present that said "James" on the front into the trunk where his friend had just emerged from, and tore the wrapping off of his own.

"I know you collect them," Remus said.

Sirius quickly opened the package of Chocolate Frogs and left the frogs sitting on the wardrobe shelf.

"Andros the Invincible," He muttered, shuffling through them. "Bridget Wenlock, Gregory the Smarmy, Agrippa—I must have about 80 of him—and-"

Sirius stopped short and his eyes grew wide. "Godric GRYFFINDOR!"

"Let me see that!" James demanded, forgetting his own gift. He held the card reverently. "How did you get this with your luck?"

Sirius gazed at Remus with adoration. "It wasn't my luck, it was his!" Sirius said, grabbing Remus' hand and pumping it enthusiastically. "Remus, chum, you are my hero."

Sirius turned back to the wardrobe. "Hey!" He cried. "Where'd the frogs go?" As Sirius chased his chocolate frogs around the room (one melted on the radiator), James opened his own gift. He carefully opened the box and immediately ducked as something flew through the air toward his head. It zipped around his head several times before landing on his shoulder.

"I've caught the Snitch, I've caught the Snitch!" It cried in a tiny voice.

James picked it up and moved it in front of his face to find it was an action figure of Frederick Keaton, the Seeker who had just the previous year caught the Snitch at the Quidditch Cup.

"Fantastic!" James explained, as Keaton took off again and got caught in James' bed's curtains.

Sirius, having caught all of his frogs, paused for a moment and noticed how tired Remus looked.

"Geez, Remus," Sirius said. "Been up all night?"

For a moment Remus looked like a deer in the headlights. "Well, you know, I was just taking care of my mum," He mumbled in the end.

"Well I have just the thing to cure it!"

Sirius rummaged around in his trunk and held up a huge bag with a large and fancy H stamped on the front.

"It came in this morning," Sirius said, sounding very satisfied with himself.

Remus heaved it up, using both hands. "I pity the owl who had to carry it," Remus commented.

"Come on, open it!" Sirius prompted.

Remus put the bag down again, and before he could open it, Sirius nearly shouted "1 Galleon's worth of Honeydukes' best candy, my friend! It'll wake you right up!"

Remus finished opening the bag and stared in wonder at the near-amazing array of colors.

Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Ice Mice, Sugar Quills (wrapped in tissue), Pepper Imps, Chocoballs, Droobles Best Blowing Gum, Jelly Slugs, and even Toothflossing Stringmints

"Eat a few Pepper Imps," Sirius advised. "You look like you need them."

The friends sat around the floor, passing around Remus' candy, when a grey owl burst in through the window. Looking surprised to see the boys awake at the late hour, the owl simply dropped a package onto the floor and flew away. The first owl was quickly followed by two more, who were lugging larger packages.

"Ha!" James crowed. "Mum and Dad thought we would be asleep by now!"

Looking at the name marked on each package, James passed the gifts around.

"My parents helped me buy your present," James admitted, handing Remus the largest package.

Remus opened his first, and out tumbled a magnificent set of Wizard Chess. The board was checkered a deep blue and gold, and the pieces stretched and waved at Remus excitedly.

"Hello, old chap!" The king called pleasantly.

"Look," James pointed out a little pawn. It crossed its arms and pouted. "My dad helped me give it vampire fangs!"

Sirius opened his gift next and revealed a huge, tapestry-sized poster of Beater Bartholomew Shockins, Sirius' favorite player.

"Your parents are the coolest adults I know," Sirius said, flying the poster onto the wall with his wand.

Finally, James opened a pair of silver binoculars, with every kind of knob on the sides. "Vinoculars!" James shouted. "I bet my parents recorded Quiddtich games on these."

"Let me have a go," Sirius said, reaching for them. "I haven't seen a single game of professional Quidditch since I've been to Hogwarts."

"It's only been a few months, Sirius," James reminded him.

"So? I live for it!" Sirius protested, grabbing the Vinoculars. "Did they record any Falcons?"

James and Sirius fought over the Vinoculars while Remus watched a game through them. James and Sirius were brought to this reality when a great Black owl flew majestically into the room, dropping a package onto Remus' head.

"Ouch!" Remus yelped, rubbing his head and putting down the Vinoculars long enough to glare.

The owl gave a disdainful glance, pruned a few feathers, and then flew away again.

"That was a family owl," Sirius said, regarding the package.

"So open it," James prompted.

Sirius carefully undid the wrapping and found himself holding an expensive-looking watch.

The watch was silver, except for an emerald rim around the clock face. Inside, the numbers were emerald and the hands two silver snakes.

_For my Son,_

The note with it read.

_I planned to give this to you when you became a Slytherin. You didn't._

_Love, Mum _

"Slytherin colors," Sirius said, holding the watch as if it was poisonous.

"Give it to a Slytherin," James suggested.

"Sure," Sirius grinned. "After a few modifications…"

When James finally woke up, it was already past noon. Having had Christmas morning earlier that night, James was surprised to find one more package sitting on the middle of the floor.

Rolling out of bed to get it, James unwrapped the plain brown paper. When he saw what lay inside, James grinned.

"Sirius, Remus!" He shouted, shaking their beds. "It's here!"


End file.
